Tales of a Sassy Pyromaniac
by KeysMiniYum
Summary: When Anni messes up her final exam, she is thrown into another dimension. She lands in a bar in a pirate obsessed town. Working there, she meets two strange men and they explain to her the meaning of nakama. It sounds good to her but she has one question. What's with all the pirates?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any other Anime/manga that I reference.

A/N

Anni: So guys, this is a fanfic that I'm gonna be writing by myself. Kate and Laura won't be in this story, but we are going to be continuing The Reason We Are Here Is What, Now? all together, so don't worry.

If you haven't read it you should check it out, but there is no connection in the two stories except for my character and the very beginning. For you guys who haven't read our other story, here is a summary of our background:

**Me (Anni), Kate and Laura are from an inter-dimensional academy where we trained for five years as the only humans in the entire place. We took our final exam that would allow us to be a kind of police for the different dimensions, so that giant wars don't break out between dimensions. Unfortunately, we don't get special treatment as police because our current job is secret. We can't tell people who we are, but we are keeping peace in smaller countries and large cities. After our exam, of course. That's what we plan to do if all goes well. During our exam, we made a small mistake with our powers and ended up being thrown into different dimensions.**

**Recap of my powers: I have fire-style elemental powers, can open portals between dimensions and I can teleport.**

P.S. All pairings in other stories have never happened in this one.

* * *

><p>Anni's POV<p>

I woke up to the clattering of bottles. My head hurt like hell, but I pushed the pain away and sat up. Actually, my whole body hurt like I had been beaten up really bad. Where was I? I looked around and saw that I was in what looked like a storage room for some kind of shop. The room was filled with boxes and shelves, most of which were filled with food and sake.

Prying open one of the boxes, I grinned. It looked like I had fallen into the back room of a bar. The box was filled with bottles of sake, and by the look of it, it wasn't cheap. Wow, if I had fallen onto one of those boxes, I would be working here for at least a week to pay it off.

Suddenly, I felt my stomach drop. I stood up and turned around slowly. The clattering sound I had heard when I woke up turned out to be the sound of bottles of sake smashing on the floor. My head had broken the side of one of the boxes, and there was at least four broken bottles on the floor complete with a slowly spreading puddle of booze.

Footsteps from the hallway behind the door completed the moment. I was lost, and now dead. Yay for luck.

The door creaked open as I stood there in the middle of the catastrophe. I racked my brains trying to think of some excuse for my predicament, but nothing came to mind. I was just gonna have to wing it like usual and hope for the best.

The person opening the door was a short, wide, and grumpy looking lady. She had frizzy black hair done up in a ponytail and lots of makeup. She wore a beige shirt with a brown coat and dark pants, and the expression on her face said that she was ready to clobber anyone who disagreed with her.

As she took in the scene of me standing in the room with broken sake bottles all around, her face slowly reddened to the point that I didn't want to even try and make an excuse.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY STORE, YOU PUNK?" She screamed.

Not waiting for an answer, she grabbed me by the cheek and hauled me into another room with a set of drawers, a desk, and a chair. Forcing me to sit down, she rummaged around in a drawer for a minute and turned to me with a terrifying expression on her face, and a piece of paper in her hand.

Slamming it down on the desk in front of me she glared at me.

"Sign."

I read the paper that she was giving me and I felt a little uneasy.

Looking up, I cleared my throat. "Um..."

Her head whipped around. "Whadda ya want?"

I swallowed. "Isn't two weeks full-time a bit over-kill? Miss?"

Her expression hardened even further and she brought out another paper. "Alright then missy, since you're so keen, then I'll shorten it to one week, but you have to work nights as well."

Expecting me to decline, her jaw dropped when I said, "Alright, sounds fair."

She sounded less angry as she said, "You do realize that this means you will get very little rest, and you will work hard, right?"

I nodded. "As long as I get a place to sleep and some food, I'll work as hard as I can."

She nodded. "Now sign and scram. You've gotta clean that storage room fast."

I signed the paper and turned to leave, but the lady spoke up before I could go.

"And you might want to do something about that nasty cut on the back of your head before it gets infected."

Confused, I reached up to touch the back of my head, and was surprised at the redness on my hand as I pulled it back. It was probably from when I crashed into the box, but it was no biggie. I could fix it with the small first aid kit that I had in my bag.

"Don't worry, I'll fix myself up later." I grinned. "Nice to know that you care, though."

The lady scowled. "Get moving. You've got work to do!"

XxX

After I had cleaned the storage room, the lady introduced herself as Clara. She had run the pub for ten years with her husband, and had two kids named Cathy and Nico. Nico was three years old and Cathy was five. They both had short curly brown hair and loved to act like pirates, which seemed like a trend in the town. Sometimes when the pub was nearly empty, Clara would send me upstairs or outside to look after them and make sure they didn't get into trouble when they tried to steal 'treasure'. Mostly shiny rocks, but sometimes they would go to the river nearby and try to get small pieces of quartz from the bank.

One time, Nico nearly got swept away by the current as he stretched to grab a rock. Cathy tried to jump in after him, but before she could do anything, I used my powers to teleport into the river. However, my fire-style powers don't work that well in water, and I had to swim to the shore.

Clara was angry with me for that. She scolded me for not keeping a eye on them, but let me off work for an hour as I dried off.

XxX

A week soon went by, and we were getting along well, with the occasional whack to the head for not paying attention, working too slow, or sampling the sake without permission. Eventually, the day came when I could leave. I had no place to go, so I stayed working at the pub for a little bit of money.

A few days later, I heard a commotion outside the pub. Running outside, I saw two men fighting over which way to go. One had blonde hair and one had green hair, and it seemed like the blonde was winning their fight. That soon changed when the green-haired one took out a katana, and started attacking with it still sheathed.

Despite the fact that they didn't look like they were fighting to hurt each other, I was still worried about the people who might get in the way. Running up to them, I used my fire-style powers to block the attacks from both sides with my arms.

Their angry looks turned to ones of surprise as they realized that their attacks hadn't connected with the person that they were meant for. I dropped my stance and looked at them with the expression that I had learned from Clara. I looked them both in the eyes and said, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

The two taller men bowed to me with a muttered "Sorry.".

I softened my expression and said, "Why don't you come and discuss it like normal people in the bar?"

The green-haired one grinned and nodded. "Sounds good. Let's go, Love Cook."

I was confused. _Love Cook?_

The blonde scowled. "Don't call me that, Marimo."

_Marimo? What was with these people?_

I shook my head. "I don't know what you guys are doing, but I have to get back to work. Come in if you want to, stay out if you don't."

As I walked back into the pub, I felt the two men look at each other, shrug, and follow me in. They sat down at the counter as I poured them each a drink. Resting my elbow on the counter, I asked, "So, you two seemed to be having some problems with directions. Where were you trying to go?"

The blonde glared at the 'Marimo' who was drinking his sake very fast. "We were trying to get to the docks to get back to our ship and our nakama."

I raised one eyebrow at the foreign word. "Nakama?"

The green-haired one slammed his mug down. "What do you mean? Nakama are like your family. They're the ones that take care of you and are always with you. You can trust your nakama with your life, and a true nakama will never betray you."

_So kind of extreme but, okay. Sounds nice to have these 'nakama'._

I was distracted from my thoughts by the green-haired one refilling his mug for the fourth time. I grabbed the bottle and said, "Hey, that's gonna get expensive real quick, and I don't know your names so I can't chase you down if you leave without paying, which I expect you'll do 'cuz you don't look too rich. So you've got two options. Tell me your names and pay, or try to run away. I guarantee that you won't get far."

The green-haired guy rolled his eyes while the blonde's eyes had stars in them as I went to get a notebook.

"Don't worry, barmaid-chan. We'll pay for everything!" He said, practically wriggling in his seat.

Ignoring the honorific, I raised the pencil in my hand. "Alright. What are your names?"

The blonde jumped at the opportunity to speak. "I am the great cook and lover of ladies, Sanji."

"Okay." I wrote down the name and turned to the other one. "And you?"

The sake-drinker sighed. "Zoro."

_Sanji and Zoro. These guys are much better than the normal customers._

Totaling their drinks, one for Sanji and seven for Zoro, the amount was higher than I expected.

"So you guys owe me 4000 beli. Do you have the money for it?"

Sanji took out a wallet packed with bills. "Yes, barmaid-chan!"

Handing me the correct amount, he whacked Zoro on the back of the head.

"Ya know, marimo, if you had money, I wouldn't have to pay for everything you buy."

His head snapped around and he yelled, "Yeah, well if Nami would give me money, then I could pay for stuff myself."

"Don't insult Nami-san like that!"

"I didn't insult her. I just said that if she wasn't so stingy with money, I could afford decent stuff!"

"What was that, bastard?"

"You wanna fight, Love Cook?"

"Yeah, marimo!"

"NOT IN THIS BAR, YOU WON'T!"

They both turned to look at me as I stormed out from behind the counter, grabbed their cheeks and dragged them outside. A handy trick to learn. I mentally thanked Clara for her attitude that I had picked up.

I dumped the two on the road in front of me and was about to start lecturing them on their behavior, when I heard a two high-pitched screams from above the bar. The three of us spun around as a shadow flew from the top of the building to the other side of the road. I immediately recognized Cathy and Nico under the arms of a big man.

He was about 6"5 and was very muscled. His face was ugly, with a scar running down his nose and one ear missing. Two other men jumped down from the rooftop to his side.

He laughed and said, "We're holding these little squirts ransom. Tell the old owner that if she wants them back, she's gonna have to pay 500,000 beli. Bring it to the old cemetery at sunset today. Or else..."

He shook the kids and they squealed.

"Please help us, Anni-san!"

"Beat these guys up for us, Anni-san!"

But before I could make a move, the three men had gone. I turned to Sanji and Zoro, who were still sitting on the ground, and scowled. "You two can fight, right?"

Zoro nodded. "Hell yes we can."

I grinned sourly. "Then you're gonna help me kick these guys' asses to the moon. Sound good?"

Sanji smirked. "Fine by me. We're gonna teach these guys a lesson they won't forget."

* * *

><p>AN

Anni: And... cut! I'm not used to writing this long by myself. Although, it is easier with just one person's perspective.

I hope you guys like this first chapter. I decided to try solo writing and I think it came out okay. If you guys like this idea, then I would be delighted if you would let me know your ideas for events to come. I'm thinking about following the plot and adding in things like Easter, Valentines day, Christmas and New Years holidays at the corresponding times. I'll see you in the next chapter, which will hopefully come out in less than a week.

See ya!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

Anni: Thank you guys so much for the support! It makes me so warm and fuzzy inside to know that you're enjoying this story!

To pizzafan123: It's more about nakama but there will be a few fluffy parts.

To casie200: I will try to update at least once a week, if not more.

Enjoy!

P.S. I'm not caught up with the plot of One Piece yet, so if I make up a Devil's Fruit that is used later in the series, please tell me so I can change it.

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><p>Anni's POV<p>

Leaving Zoro and Sanji in the street, I ran back into the bar.

"Hey! Clara!" I yelled upstairs.

"What is it? If it's about those guys that took Cathy and Nico, then scram!" Clara yelled back. "You three have got some ass-kicking to do."

Grinning, I sprinted back out to the road where the two men were waiting.

A voice drifted out from the bar behind me.

"And be back in time for dinner!"

As the three of us ran towards the cemetery, Sanji turned to me and asked, "So what's it like hanging around that lady all the time? She seems ready to kill anyone, anytime. That said, why're you going to fetch those kids instead of her? Or just leaving it to us? I don't recognize your face from the wanted posters, and I don't think that a marine would work as a barmaid."

Feeling sort of overwhelmed by all the questions, I replied, "I'm just Anni. Act first, questions later."

Then, grinning, I said, "I'm the one going to get the squirts because if I left it to two rookies and an old lady, nothing would get done."

"Hey! Who're you calling a rookie?" Was the chorused response.

Zoro grinned and looked over at me. "I like your attitude. After we get the kids back, you've gotta tell us why you're so confident. Unless, of course, that was all talk."

I glared at him. "You'll see. And you have to tell me about this pirate obsession that's going on in this town. It's seriously confusing."

Nodding, the two men continued running in silence.

XxX

When we reached the cemetery, we found the three men waiting for us just in front of the entrance. Seeing us come up, they glared when they saw that we hadn't brought any money with us, but their leader started to laugh.

"So you three must think you're pretty hot stuff, coming to stand up to the Hitoshi Brothers. If you don't have that money we asked for, you should go home and get it. It might save your pretty faces."

He smirked, obviously thinking that we were no match for him and his subordinates.

I thought about what he said for a moment, and then a thought struck me.

"Hmm... pretty faces as in plural? Are you saying that you find these two guys' faces pretty?" Grinning at everyone's discomfort, I continued. "Are you saying that you're gay?"

The man's face reddened like a tomato eating chili peppers.

"NO YOU STUPID PUNK! I AM HITOSHI OF THE HITOSHI BROTHERS! HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME LIKE THAT?"

I shrugged innocently and looked away. "That's just what it sounded like. I'm just stating the obvious 'cuz no one else was gonna."

The three men in front of me cracked their knuckles and growled.

"You've got some nerve, talking to us that way." The one on the left said.

The one on the right nodded silently, pulling out a pair of giant machetes. They looked furious, and I was willing to bet that if I provoked them some more, they would lose their cool and be easier to beat.

Relying on my allies' improvisation skills, I turned to Sanji and asked, "You said you're a lover of ladies. From your experience, what do you think about this man's life?"

Acknowledging what I was doing, he lit a cigarette and sighed. "I think that from his reaction to what you said, you were probably completely right."

I nodded and turned to Zoro. "And you? I can guess that you've hung out with Sanji for a while, and from that, you must have picked up some things. What do you say?"

He scowled at me. "I'll be damned if this Love Cook is rubbing off on me... but I think he's right. This guy is totally gay."

The three men in front of us were nearly quivering with anger at our comments.

My expression turned to one of demonic excitement. "Alright! Let's get started! I call the big guy."

Zoro nodded.

"I'll be there to back you up if you need help, barmaid-chan!" said Sanji, trying to reassure me.

I rolled my eyes and-

-blocked a punch coming straight to my face. The impact sent shivers down my arm. Man, this guy had one killer punch! I would have to ask for his exercise routine later, after I beat the crap out of him of course.

I looked at him with The Clara Glare and he might have flinched a little.

"Oi. I wasn't done talking yet. Geez, people have got to have better manners than this." I said conversationally, and kicked him in the gut.

He flew across the path and thudded into the metal fence surrounding the cemetery. Coughing up blood, he said, "Better manners, eh? You insult me, call me gay, try to interfere with my plans, and you have the guts to say I have bad manners?"

I grinned with an evil look in my eye. "Yep. Ya know why?"

He struggled to his feet. "No, and I don't care," he said, jumping towards me and sending a roundhouse kick at my stomach.

I dodged not so gracefully, tripping on a loose rock. When I regained my balance, another punch was coming my way. I grabbed the fist heading towards me and redirected it's force into a nearby tree. The man managed to dodge the tree, but crashed into another one just behind it.

I scowled and said, "It's because you tried to interfere with the lives of my friends, demand money that you didn't work for, and threatened innocent people. For that you deserve to never see daylight again. Fortunately for you, I'm in a merciful mood today, so I think I'll just hand you over to the authorities and let them do the dirty work."

The man laughed. "I'll admit that you have a solid punch, but what will you do about this?"

He started to shake, and the injured parts of his skin slid off to reveal yellow-green scales underneath. He grew a foot or so, but his limbs seemed thinner and more bendy than before. When the shaking finished, he looked like a cross between a snake and a human, but with the same face.

_Eeeewwww..._

I just stared, horrified at what had happened to the seemingly normal man. Had he taken some sort of genetic enhancement drug?

"Okay, skipping the 'eew', what the hell happened to you? You're a ... humasnake." I said with a grossed out look on my face.

The 'humasnake' looked absolutely furious with his new nickname. "I'm not a humasnake, I simply ate the Hebi Hebi Fruit. I can turn into a snake and adopt the powers of this amazing reptile, using them to smash your face in."

Confused with this 'Hebi Hebi Fruit' buisness, I decided to just roll with it. I leaped across the path between us and experimentally punched at his face. Or, where his face should have been. He had stretched his neck to the side at an unnatural angle to avoid the hit. My fist hit the tree and stuck momentarily in the tree bark behind me, but a moment was all that was needed for the humasnake to slither up my arm and trap my body. I struggled, but I couldn't move an inch.

Suddenly another great idea struck me. "Okay, I've changed my mind. You're gay and a pervert." I hoped that this would work like the last one and get him all riled up.

"What?!" He let his grip slide a little, but that was all I needed to squirm free.

Unfortunately, the snake transformation made him faster than I expected. He caught my ankle and I fell to the ground with a _thunk. _

He laughed at my ungraceful fall. "You don't stand a chance against me in this form."

Hmm... snakes didn't like fire, right? So if I lit myself on fire, I should be safe, right? I was on a roll with these great ideas! This was my third this fight. I tried to not overuse my fire-style powers, but this was definitely the time to use them.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated hard on my spiritual energy, or whatever you want to call it. I felt the fire burning inside my mind, and coaxed it out. I didn't have automatic control over my powers and they could sometimes rage out of my control, but that didn't happen often.

I opened my eyes and grinned. I loved this feeling of overwhelming power. Focusing it, I willed my body to light itself on fire. I had never burned myself before, not counting the time I accidentally rested my hand on a frying pan when I was learning to make pancakes. Yeah, that was embarrassing.

The eyes of my opponent widened when he saw the flames raging around me.

"W-What are you? Are you a d-demon?" he stuttered, backing away from me.

I smirked. "I'm not sure about that, but what I do know is that I'm gonna kick your snake ass to the moon and back. Forget the authorities, you're not even worth it."

As I started to run towards him he cringed and was about to yell something, but I punched his gut and he went flying into a boulder. Following the path of his flight, I appeared and kept rapid-fire (no pun intended... or maybe it was intended) punching him until a red haze crossed my field of vision and all I wanted to do was make him feel the pain he deserved for hurting my friends.

Suddenly, my arms stopped moving. The haze cleared, and I could see Zoro and Sanji each holding one of my arms back, slightly wincing at the heat of the fire surrounding me. In front of me was something that resembled a burnt, bloody, almost dead snake-humanoid.

Horrified at what I had done, I extinguished the fire that was burning away at the men's hands. Stepping back, they released my arms. The bloody mess in front of me slid to the ground.

I felt sick at my own actions, but then I remembered that he had threatened the people that I felt a responsibility to protect. Even if I couldn't quite justify my actions, he had hurt people that I was close to, and he had deserved it.

Jolting out of my zoned-out phase, I saw that Zoro and Sanji had piled up the three bodies. All of them were slightly groaning, which meant that they were alive.

"How did you..."

Sanji smirked. "You asked us to explain the pirate obsession. It's not an obsession. There are pirates everywhere, and we're some of them. This is the age of pirates."

I struggled to comprehend that fact completely. "Okay..."

With a sigh of relief, a wave of fatigue washed over me and I slumped to the ground, but then I remembered that Nico and Cathy were still somewhere.

I was almost too tired to breathe, but I managed to murmur, "We need to go find the kids. They've gotta get back for dinner..."

I heard a laugh from Sanji. "Don't worry your pretty little head about it. Zoro just went to get them."

I fell the other half of the distance to the ground. "Thank goodness... but are you sure he'll be all right?" I asked, tiredly, "Doesn't he have some kind of problems with directions?"

The world was slowly turning black, and the last thing I saw was the blonde running in the direction Zoro had taken with a, "Shit! Who knows where that marimo will end up!"

XxX

I woke up to two little hands poking my face. I sat up in confusion, and stared at my surroundings. I was in the upper level of the bar, lying on a couch in the small family room with Nico and Cathy's concerned faces looking up at me. They had expressions of pure joy on their faces as I looked around.

"Yayyy! Anni-san is okay!" Came the piercing squeals as they danced around the room. "Yay! She beat the bad men! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

The door opened and Clara came in, followed by Zoro and Sanji, who was holding a bag. Clara looked at me with a proud look. "I'm very proud of you for taking down that gang. You did a very good job, BUT WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK HAPPENED WHEN I SAW YOU BEING CARRIED IN HERE HALF-DEAD, AND THESE TWO YOUNG MEN TOLD ME THAT YOU'D TAKEN DOWN THE LEADER OF THE HITOSHI BROTHERS!" She screamed at me, obviously worried.

I bowed my head. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I was just protecting my friends. You and Nico and Clara have been like my family for the past week and a half, so I was only doing what was natural." I looked up with a grin. "I'm glad that you cared about my health though."

She glared. "By the way, these young men have something to talk to you about," she said, gesturing to Zoro and Sanji. "so we'll go get lunch. And by the way, you were back in time for dinner."

With a smile, she ushered the two dancing kids out of the room.

I turned to the two men. "You want to know what happened, right?"

They both nodded silently, with serious looks on their faces.

I sighed. "Well, even I'm not sure, but when I activated my fire-style powers, it triggered my pent-up rage at that guy. All I could think about was what he had done to my friends and I wanted him to feel the same pain that they were feeling. If you guys hadn't stopped me, who knows what I would have done," I said, staring at my knees.

Sanji coughed. "Well, it's just good luck that it worked. I mean, you were on fire and we aren't exactly fire-proof."

It was then that I noticed the white bandages wrapped around each of their hands.

"No. How bad are the burns?" I asked, with a horrified look on my face.

Zoro spoke quietly, like someone was going to overhear our conversation. "We weren't burned as bad as you think. We figured that it was because you were so focused on the fight in front of you that we didn't feel the full force of it. You were directing it at Hitoshi, not us."

I thought back to the event. "Yeah, that was probably a big part of it. Also, I think it was because I think of you guys as my friends as well, and I didn't want you to get hurt. The fire probably responded to this and avoided burning you as much as possible."

"Anyways, we wanted to tell you that we took the men to the authorities, and this is your reward." Sanji dumped the bag I had noticed earlier onto the couch next to me. "1,000,000 beli."

I gasped at the amount. "Whaa..."

He grinned. "It's the guy's bounty. We decided you deserved it 'cuz you took him down yourself."

I had never earned this much money in such a short time in my life. It felt ... unreal.

Zoro grinned at me like I had done something incredibly dumb, but smart. "Also, you made a name for yourself through that fight. They're calling you the Demon's Daughter, Anni."

I laughed. "Well, it could be worse."

His expression changed to a slightly darker one. "But if you do this again, you might get a bounty on your own head. That would mean people could try to do the same thing as Hitoshi, but to try to get to you, instead."

I thought about it. If it happened again, I would do the exact same thing. And then get a bounty. And then people would hurt Clara and Nico and Cathy. I couldn't let that happen. But what if... no. That couldn't happen. They wouldn't.

Sanji smiled like he knew every thought in my head. "We talked about it with our captain. He has something to ask you."

As the door opened again, I was surprised to see a teenager with black hair, a red vest, and a straw hat walk in.

He smiled. "Hi! I'm Luffy. Zoro and Sanji told me about you. Come be one of our nakama!"

_Nakama? Me?_

* * *

><p>AN

Anni: Sorry about the cliff hanger, but you can all guess what happens next. I decided to cut it of here 'cuz it was getting a little long. I love the feeling that you guys are enjoying by my work, and I hope to keep you entertained. I want to have the next chapter out within a week like last time.

P.S. Hitoshi's name is a pun, because it means level-headed or calm.

See ya!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N

Anni: Sorry for the wait. I had a few writer's blocks for the chapter, but I hope it's okay.

To pizzafan123: Yes, I totally agree. There's almost too many romance fanfics for One Piece, because the only 'romance' in the first 400 episodes is when Robin tells Zoro that he looks good while babysitting. And that Sanji/Zoro almost-kiss in the Davy Back Fight.

As always, enjoy!

* * *

><p>Anni's POV<p>

_Nakama? Me?_

Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy stood there, waiting for my answer.

It was obviously the best choice, but was I really ready for it? Was I strong enough to be a pirate? But over all, would it keep the people that I cared about safe? If I got a bounty, Clara, Nico, and Cathy would be in danger. But if I went with these pirates, they could take care of themselves and I could maybe be a help to the crew.

As I sat on the couch staring at my knees and trying to decide, the door opened and in walked Clara, Nico, and Cathy. The two little kids were sniffling and Clara even looked slightly sad.

"Anni-san?" Nico piped up.

Cathy continued. "If you're going, you gotta come back to play with us."

I smiled sadly. "Of course I'll come back. And maybe I'll bring back some real treasure for you guys."

Luffy pumped a fist in the air. "Yosh! Now you're one of our nakama!"

I stood up and hugged Cathy and Nico. Straightening up, I gave Clara a quick hug too.

"Alright. Cathy packed up your room for you, so you're all ready to go," Clara said. "So get going before I change my mind and keep you here forever!"

I nodded, too choked up to speak. I opened the door and walked down the stairs to the entrance of the bar with my bag slung over my shoulder. Walking out onto the road, I turned and waved at the people that I had come to know and yelled, "If anyone asks, this bar is the home of the Demon's Daughter, Anni! And I'm gonna come back stronger than ever!"

With that, I followed my new nakama to the docks, not looking back once. Why? I had promised to come back, and I wasn't the kind of person to break a promise. As I headed towards my new adventures, I had only one thought.

_This is gonna be freakin' awesome!_

XxX

The ship that I was about to board didn't look much like a pirate ship. It had a goat face on the front, and was smaller than I had imagined. That said, the crew was also smaller than I had thought. From what I had seen, there was the captain, Luffy, the cook, Sanji, and the swordsmaster, Zoro. They said that there were 'a few' people waiting for them, but combined with the size of the ship, 'a few' could even mean two! Plus... I really hoped that there was at least one girl other than me. Spending the next few years with only boys wasn't the ideal situation.

Suddenly, I realized that the three crew members had already climbed onto the boat.

Luffy looked over the side and yelled, "Oi! Are you coming? We've gotta introduce you to the rest of the crew!"

I climbed up the side of the boat (they had all jumped) and pushed myself up onto the deck. What I saw was more or less what I had expected. There were three people that I didn't recognize.

The first was a girl about my age with bright orange hair. She looked grumpy, but smiled at me when a looked at her. My impression? Eh. I bet she's nice, but kinda bossy.

The second was a man with a really long nose. He flinched when Sanji glanced at me and whispered something to him. I only caught a few words like _lit on fire ... beat him up ... scarier than Nami ... Luffy ... new nakama ..._ but it seemed that Sanji had meant to scare him when he flinched at every other word. He looked at me with a terrified face. My impression? Okay. Kind of a scaredy cat, but he's gotta have some talent to be on this crew.

The third was a girl with long blue hair. She smiled in a friendly way when I glanced at her, and didn't seem scared in the least. My impression? Nice, friendly, but not exactly pirate material.

Then again, who was I to judge these people? I was just the pirate rookie.

Luffy spoke up in his enthusiastic way. "Yosh! Everyone, this is Anni! She's one of our nakama now, and according to Zoro and Sanji, she can light herself on fire and fight really well. Zoro said she could beat Sanji and Sanji said she could beat Zoro." He laughed. "Anni, these are our other nakama."

He pointed to the orange-haired girl. "Nami. She's in charge of the money and navigation, and she's kinda scary."

The girl whacked him on the head. Grinning, Luffy pointed to the long-nosed man. "This is Usopp. He's the sniper, the gunner, and the inventor."

I waved at him and he ran behind Zoro with a "Save me!"

As Zoro tried to untangle himself from the clinging Usopp, Luffy introduced me to the third member of the crew. "This is Vivi. She's the princess of Arabasta. We're gonna bring her back to her kingdom and stop the civil war there."

Struggling to comprehend all these facts, all I could say in response was, "Uh huh."

Luffy ran to the goat head and sat on it. "Yosh, everyone! Let's go!"

Everyone scrambled to their positions while Nami yelled instructions to them. A little overwhelmed, I stood in my spot while people rushed around me, doing ... ship stuff.

I finally decided to try and help. I turned to Nami, who was giving the orders.

"Nami, is there anything I can do?"

She looked down from the deck she was standing on.

"Hmm. Do you know anything about ships? Is there anything that you're especially good at?"

"Fighting. Burning. Drinking. Sleeping. Eating. Volleyball. I don't have any idea how to operate a ship." I replied bluntly.

Looking around her, Nami didn't seem to find anything for me to do. She spoke loudly over the wind. "I think they're almost done. You can go inside for something to eat if you like." She smiled. "Don't worry, we'll teach you about ships soon enough."

Nodding, I walked up the stairs, past her, and into the cabin where I found a Sanji cooking at small kitchen and Vivi sitting at a table in the back of a nicely made room. There was a refrigerator, a rack for wine and beer, a bunch of barrels that probably had food in them and a pole sticking up from the floor with another goat head on it. I had no idea what it was for so I didn't touch it.

Pulling out a chair, I sat down at the table just as the rest of the crew poured in.

"SANJI! FOOD!" Luffy yelled, crashing into the chair beside me.

Nami, Zoro, and Usopp sat down at seats around the table. My stomach growled at the smell of cooking fish. As everyone looked my way, I said, "What? I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since... umm... " I counted the meals that had past, "Yesterday's lunch."

Luffy's eyes grew wide at the thought of not eating for so long. A plate was set down in front of me by a black-sleeved hand. When I looked at the food, I thought that it must have been pre prepared because of the elegance of the arrangement. At a second look, it had to have been made only a few seconds ago, as indicated by the steam.

A voice jolted me out of my awe. "Food's made for eating, not staring at."

I looked up to see Zoro with an already empty plate.

"Ah. Okay. Umm, did Sanji really make this? It looks amazing." I said hesitantly.

He stared at me with an unbelieving look. "Yeah? Well, it tastes good too, so eat it before Luffy steals it all."

I glanced around to see the black haired captain grabbing food from other plates with an impossibly stretched arm.

"How are you doing that stretchy thing?" I asked, taking a bite of my food. It was really amazing.

Luffy laughed. "I ate the Gomu Gomu Fruit. I'm a rubberman."

I concluded that these special fruits were rare, but not uncommon, because I had already met two people with their abilities. Or I could just be lucky.

Zoro slammed his plate into the table. "Sanji! Seconds!"

Not to be outdone, I ate my remaining food quickly and put down my fork. "Me too!"

Sanji grinned as we both dug into our food, eating as fast as we could.

"Thirds!"

"Fourths!"

"Fifths!"

"Sixths!"

"Sevenths!"

"Eeuugh. I'm gonna barf."

Reaching my limit, i stumbled outside to hysterical laughter from everyone. The wind was cold, but refreshing. As the waves passed by, I could see fish under the water, and the occasional thing that was too big for a fish. I walked down the stairs, up the other set, and sat on the deck, contemplating what had happened in the past two weeks.

XxX

So. I had apparently fallen asleep on the deck next to the goat head, and had partially fallen through the baluster holding the railing up, but before I could fall into the ocean, Zoro had caught one of my feet. I was now hanging upside down by my ankle above the water with all my blood rushing to my head. After all that food, now I was really gonna barf.

Zoro pulled me back up onto the deck where he dropped me on my head.

Rubbing my head, I scowled. "Oww... you could have warned me."

He grinned. "But where's the fun in that?"

"So you think that dropping me on my head was more fun than _not_ injuring me?" I said disbelievingly.

Laughing, he said, "Yeah, plus you're fun to annoy." He stopped laughing and stared at me. "And you were in my spot."

I felt a bit disconcerted that he was so serious about it, but I decided that I would avoid that spot next time. Or... maybe I wouldn't... mwahahaha...

"Anni?" Vivi had come to see what was happening. "That expression is kinda scary..."

I realized that I was grinning demonically at the thought of getting the swordsman back for dropping me on my head.

I shook the expression off of my face and smiled. "Sorry. Do you know if there's anything to do, aside from falling off the deck?"

She laughed. "Well, no ones on lookout duty. I suppose you could do that."

I nodded. "'Kay. What am I supposed to be looking for?"

She bent over slightly from laughing. "You go up to the crow's nest and watch out for islands or other ships. We're heading towards a place called Little Garden, so I suppose there would be a lot of trees and forest material."

I turned to the mast and began climbing up the ladder. "Forests... I used to live near a bunch of forests. They were always so peaceful and quiet. Not that that's likely to happen with this bunch. They're too loud for 'peaceful'." I murmured to myself as I reached the top.

Seeing a spyglass laying on the ground, I picked it up and directed it towards the front of the ship. Looking through it, I couldn't see anything except for clouds, sky, and sea, so I decided to modify the spyglass a little.

Heating my hands to the melting point of glass, I focused the heat into the glass, bending it so that it would have a farther range of view. I blew on it quickly to cool it, then raised it to my eye. The range was improved greatly. I could see objects about five times larger, and now that I looked hard, I could see a tiny green smudge on the horizon.

"Oi! Everyone! I see an island! I think that at the rate we're going, we'll be there by tomorrow's lunchtime!"

Cheers erupted from the deck below me as everyone ran to the bow to try and see the island. Not seeing anything, Nami looked up and said, "I don't see an island. Are you sure you saw it?"

"Yeah." I tossed the improved spyglass down to Nami, but accidentally-on-purpose missed, and it landed on Zoro's head. Revenge was sweet.

I heard a muffled "Oi!" as I ducked down to conceal my laughter, followed by a "You did that on purpose, flame-brain!"

At that, I couldn't stand it any longer and I burst out laughing. Poking my head over the side of the crow's nest I yelled, "You deserved it for dropping me on my head, marimo!"

"Pyromaniac!"

"Katana man!"

"Freaky fire lady!"

"Shitty swordsman!"

There was a chorus of 'Oohs' at that one, followed by a rumble that made everyone forget about the name-calling contest.

"W-what was that?" Usopp stammered.

Sanji lit his cigarette and sighed. "It felt like a volcano."

Jumping over the edge of the wood, I stood on the mast beside it to get a better view.

Luffy's eyes lit up. "A volcano? Awesome!"

Nami whacked him on the back of the head. "You would die instantly if you jumped in a volcano."

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Luffy asked with a laugh.

Usopp sighed. "We've known you for long enough to predict almost anything you do."

At this, my laughter started up again and I lost my foothold on the mast. The rumbling started again and I slipped off of the mast ungracefully, landing on a trapdoor that gave way under my weight. I stood up and took in my surroundings. I was in a messy room with four or five hammocks and a couple of couches. From the amount of clothes strewn around, I figured that this was the boys room.

"Anni, what are you doing? This is the guys room." Vivi had come running when she heard the crash. There were also a few other heads looking down at me.

I scratched the back of my head sheepishly. "Well, the volcano rumble shook me off of the mast so I fell and I happened to land here. Man, this room is almost as messy as mine. If Kate and Laura were here they'd definitely say..." I trailed off as I realized that my friends weren't here.

Sanji stretched out a hand to help me up. "So, can you tell us about these Kate and Laura people?"

Taking the hand, I climbed onto the deck and paused.

"It's okay if you don't want to. We won't press the matter," said Nami, looking concerned.

Shaking my head, I stood up and looked at my nakama. Sighing, I said, "No, it's okay. Kate and Laura were my friends before I came here. We spent a lot of time together." I left out the small detail of arriving from another dimension. But that wasn't a big deal. I was here now, and I was here to stay.

Looking off into the distance, I saw the smudge of green that I had noticed before. There was a small pillar of smoke rising above it.

I pointed and said, "Hey, there's smoke above that island. Do you think that's where that rumbling noise is coming from?"

Luffy grinned. "There's a volcano on the island that we're going to? So cool!"

I turned around to whack him, but instead got a face full of sunlight. The sun was setting, and tomorrow we were going to arrive at the volcano island.

Remembering something, I asked, "Wait. You guys said that this island was called Little Garden, right? What kind of things live there to make it sound so... ominous?"

"Well, this lady told us that there were creatures that live on the island that are so big that the island seems like the size of a garden to them." Nami replied. "It sounds like there are huge creatures the size of dinosaurs."

"Woah! Dinosaurs? Will we get to meet one? Maybe it can be our nakama!" Luffy fantasized.

Nami, Vivi and I smacked him on the head. "There is no freaking way you can get a dinosaur on this boat without it breaking!" We yelled in unison.

Watching with amazement, Zoro elbowed Sanji. "Oi, love cook. Looks like Luffy has a bigger impact on girls than you do," he teased.

Sanji's head drooped. "I'm a failure." Then he straightened. "No. I must not give up on my life's dream! After finding All Blue, of course." I could practically see the flames in his eyes as he spoke.

"Saaaaaaaaanji! Make me some food!" Luffy shouted from inside, banging his fists on the table. "It's dinner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time!" he chanted.

Sanji looked ready to cook the captain as he walked to the kitchen.

"Stop chanting already, rubber-head."

The rest of us grinned at each other with devious looks. We ran up to sit at the table and pounded our fists on it.

"Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Din-ner-time! Give us food! Give us food! Food! Food!"

"AUGH! STOP IT!"

"Food! Food! Food!"

XxX

After that late dinner, all of us except Sanji (who had volunteered to take first watch with a scowl) felt tired and decided to go to bed. Nami and Vivi offered to set up a bed on the floor of their room for me, no matter how much I protested that I could sleep in the kitchen room.

Nami's counter argument was that Luffy stole food at night, and unless I wanted to be nearly eaten too, I should stay out of there at night. After that, I gave up on arguing.

As I lay down on my makeshift bed, I wondered what we would see on Little Garden.

* * *

><p>AN:

Anni: So? I had a few random ideas, but I think they fit together pretty well. If you guys want anything specific to happen, don't hesitate to tell me. I'll include all the ideas that are... relevant to the story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and the next one should be out in the next week.

See ya!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N

Anni: Sorry about the wait. I had some computer problems and I didn't start writing before today. Yeah...

Btw, the arcs won't follow the exact series of events, because of Anni's presence. But even if they don't happen in order, most events in the arcs will happen.

* * *

><p>Anni's POV<p>

I woke up to pounding on the ceiling. Rolling over, I got up and looked around. Nami and Vivi were nowhere to be seen, so I changed out of my pajamas and into an outfit that Nami had lent me. Actually, it was the only one that she had that I would willingly wear.

The outfit consisted of a a black miniskirt with mid-thigh length leggings under and a dark red tee-shirt shirt with the kanji for nakama on the front. I had black sneakers that Vivi had lent me, and my white socks from yesterday. My tastes in clothing were darker than most girls, mostly involving black and red, but I didn't care. It looked good on me, especially with my pale skin (that stayed the same colour even when I tried to get a tan) and mid-length blonde hair, giving me a slightly evil look.

I started up the the stairs to the trapdoor, when it burst open, revealing a stressed looking face. The face was connected to an arm that held a large hammer, probably the source of the pounding that woke me up.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Nami yelled at me. "We've been trying to wake you up for the last hour! I was about to came in there and hit _you_ with this! But," she looked behind her, "these idiots wouldn't let me do anything... potentially harmful to you."

I climbed up the rest of the stairs to see most of the crew packed into the small room. Nodding seriously, I said, "Yes, I completely agree. It would be a shame if I was critically injured or killed on my second day with the crew."

Sanji stepped forward. "Do you know what time it is?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

He whacked my head lightly. "It's lunchtime, idiot!"

Surprised, I raised one eyebrow. "So you guys are worried because I slept in?"

Nami hit me with the hammer in her hand. "No! Because we thought you were in a freaking coma!"

Luffy laughed. "And we didn't want you to miss lunch. Sanji's gonna make us each a bento!"

"Thank you! At least someone has a legitimate reason for waking me up!" I said.

A voice came from outside. I recognized it as Usopp's. "We've reached Little Garden!"

The crew members inside ran out to look at the island. I followed them, only pausing to feel the two huge lumps that were forming on the back of my head.

I ran to the front of the boat to get the best view, but that wasn't necessary to see the bright green jungle all around the boat. The island looked wild and ancient, like it was a snapshot of the world from thousands of years ago. In the distance, I could see a giant volcano and two huge white rock formations.

Zoro steered the boat into a little river where we stopped and hopped out.

Sanji turned to the rest of us and said, "We need to stock up on provisions, 'cuz we didn't get a lot at the last town."

I hadn't been there at the last town so I said, "What happened?"

He turned to me. "Well, before we got to your island, we went to a town filled with bounty hunters, and we couldn't get any food. Then, while we did get some good stuff at your island, we didn't get enough to last us for a long time."

Luffy muttered something about a restaurant, and was immediately shushed by the rest of us.

Suddenly, a giant bird lizard thing swooped down and tried to grab one of us. Nami and Usopp screamed, while the rest of us cringed at the sound. I leaped up and hit it, and it flew back up into the sky.

Luffy's eyes sparkled. "I'm gonna go and explore the jungle! Anyone wanna come? It's gonna be an adventure!"

Vivi smiled. "I'll go with you. If I just sit around here, I'll soon get bored."

Nami wilted like a flower in the middle of a desert. "Don't tell me that he's rubbing off on you. You'll die!"

From behind Vivi, a bird that I hadn't noticed before poked his head out. Vivi glanced from me to the bird, and said, "Oh, that's right. Anni, this is Carue. He was scared of you, so he didn't come out earlier." Looking back at Nami, she continued, "Carue will come with me."

The poor bird looked ready to faint

XxX

After a few preparations, Luffy, Vivi and Carue set off on their adventure. Back on the boat, Zoro jumped off onto the ground.

"I'm gonna take a walk."

Sanji ran up to the side of the boat.

"Hey, marimo. We're low on food, so bring something edible back."

"Yeah, ok." Zoro replied. Then, half turning, he said, "I'll hunt something bigger than you could manage, so sit tight until I get back."

Sanji looked ready to explode. "Alright then, if you're so confident, why don't we have a little contest?"

"Sounds good to me."

I could feel the tension in the air as they glared at each other.

I felt that I had to do something to ease the tension. "Oh, hey. Can I join too? If I sit around here I'm gonna get bored to death!"

They both shifted their glares to me and I flinched involuntarily.

_I'm glad they're my nakama, not my enemies._

I grinned. "Well, anyways, whoever brings back the most edible meat wins... hmm... do we have a good prize?"

Nami smirked at us. "How about... the losers have to do whatever the winner says for a day?"

"Hmm... kinda overused, but okay!"

"I agree."

"I'm looking forwards to your faces when you lose."

I leaped off the boat. "Bye Nami, Usopp. You guys can be the judges, 'kay?"

They both paled at the thought of the losers rage while the three of us ran off into the jungle, hoping to find something good.

XxX

"Okay, where are the big things?" I muttered to myself as I walked.

So far, I had seen a tiger, a big lizard, and a smallish elephant-like thing, but nothing huge enough to win.

A noise rang through the forest to my left. Spinning around, I saw a... dinosaur? It had dark yellow-green scales and a long neck, and looked kinda like brontosaurus but with a slightly shorter and thicker neck. It walked on all fours, but as soon as it saw me, it reared up and started charging towards me.

Yelling in surprise, I started running back the way I came, dodging the repeated head-butt attacks.

_Wait... which way did I come? It all looks the same! Then again, it's probably not good to lead this thing back to the boat. Squishing the judges won't let me win. Oh yeah, and I don't want Nami and Usopp to get hurt. That's important too._

I skidded to a stop and faced the dinosaur. The fight went like this:

Punch. Punch. Punch. Slice.

Anni: 1. Dino: 0.

I jumped up on top of a tree and saw something amazing. Two gigantic people were fighting above the treetops. One had a sword, and the other fought with an axe, but the strangest part was the fact that they were both laughing as they fought. I decided not to get in their way.

Jumping down from the tree, I picked up the dino by it's tail. Groaning under it's weight, I began the long trek back to the boat.

XxX

When I got back to the boat, Sanji and Zoro were both already there, fighting over whose catch was bigger. I saw that they had both caught dinosaurs of about the same size as mine.

Walking up to them, I called out, "Yo! Where are our judges?"

The two men turned to me with scowls on their faces.

"That's what we want to know!" They said in unison.

I thought for a moment. "Well, they've either gone out by themselves, gotten dragged into one of Luffy's adventures, or been kidnapped by one of those fighting giants."

"Fighting giants?" Zoro asked incredulously.

I nodded. "Yeah. I saw them from up in a tree. Did you notice all the shaking going on?"

Shaking his head, Sanji answered, "No, I was focused on beating you two."

Zoro looked thoughtful. "Oh, I thought that it was just more dinosaurs. Although, I already took down the biggest, so that was a bit confusing."

Before a fight could break out, I stepped between them and brought out the Clara Glare. They immediately looked at me and stopped fighting.

"Okay. Now since they wouldn't go out by themselves, and Luffy hasn't been back yet, we can conclude that they have been kidnapped by someone." I said seriously.

They nodded.

"So we must go look for Nami-swan!" Sanji said, running into the jungle by himself.

"Oi! Cook! Stop and let me tell you which way I think they went!" I yelled after him.

Zoro sighed. "Did you notice that he said, 'we'?"

I actually hadn't, but now that he pointed it out, it was really funny. Laughing, we started walking in the way that he ran.

XxX

Walking along in a prehistoric jungle semi alone isn't something that I would recommend to normal people. However, I didn't fall into the 'normal' category, so it was only slightly unsettling. Every once in a while, we would see another dino, or carnivorous lizard, or giant snake. They didn't pose much of a threat to us, because we could one shot most of them. We took turns dealing with attackers, I would destroy one, then Zoro would annihilate another, and then it would turn into a game of who could defeat prehistoric monsters faster.

The only problem we had was when I climbed a tree to see if I could see anything, and I looked at my feet, where a giant spider was chilling. I screamed loudly, and Zoro jumped up next to me, ready to kill something because of the unnatural noise I was making. He ended up missing the spider and cutting my knee instead (yeah, it was that big), but that was my fault because I moved to get away, startling the spider.

Jumping down from the tree, I stumbled and fell over. I dragged myself to a tree stump and pulled out my first aid kit. Grabbing a needle with my shaking hands, I tried to stitch up my cut, but before I could start, Zoro landed behind me and grabbed the needle.

I flinched at the sudden movement. "Hey! I need to close the cut before it gets infected."

He stared at me like I was crazy. "Yeah. That's what _I'm_ going to do. You'll only end up making it worse than it already is with your shaking hands."

He had a point. I might stab myself. Sighing in agreement, I handed him the first aid kit.

"Just don't stab me." I said, looking away.

I hated looking at wounds being closed unless I was fixing my own injuries, so I looked away for the entire process. My knee was going numb, but I could feel Zoro's warm hands on my knee and the occasional prick of the needle when it was farther away from the cut.

Finally, Zoro stood up and stretched. I tried to stand up too, but he pushed me back down onto the stump.

"What now?" I asked with some sarcasm.

Not answering, he took out a roll of bandages from the kit and started wrapping my knee up. He stood up again and rolled his eyes.

"Have you ever pulled a stitch?" he asked me.

I thought back. "No, I haven't. Why?"

He sighed. "Well, let me tell you. It really, really hurts."

"Ohh..."

Finally understanding, I stood up for the second time, this time successfully. However, after a few steps, a spike of pain shot up my leg and I nearly fell over, but Zoro caught me. I straightened quickly after that.

"I'm okay. I've had longer cuts." I said, slightly frustrated at myself.

Saying nothing, Zoro kept walking, but he was a little closer than before.

XxX

We didn't find Sanji. Instead, we found Nami and Usopp. They explained what had happened to them. They were brought to one of the huge rock formations by one of the fighting giants that I had seen earlier. They thought that the giant, who introduced himself as Brogy, had wanted to eat them, but he had clarified it, saying that he just wanted some company.

Brogy explained the reason behind his fight with the other giant. He was from an island called Elbaf, and when someone had an issue that could not be resolved, they would come to Little Garden and fight until the god Elbaf awarded one person the victory. However, they had been fighting for a hundred years every time the volcano rumbled with no winner, and they had forgotten their reason for fighting.

Personally, I thought that it was bullshit that they were fighting without a reason, but I wasn't about to say that out loud. After all, they had fought for a loooong time.

Suddenly, the biggest volcano rumbled.

Brogy stood up. "I have to go fight now. I'll see you humans later. Kaapapapapaa!"

I decided to follow him at a safe distance and watch the fight. As the second giant approached, I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. He was stumbling slightly, with a small smudge of blood on his chin. I didn't see him get injured in the previous fight, so what had gone wrong?

I decided to try and stop the fight that had been obviously sabotaged. As I ran through the trees, I saw the other giant trip and Brogy cut him down. I could tell that something was wrong with the two giants when Brogy fell down as well. I wasn't even halfway there, but I was running as fast as I could when I heard a scream that sounded suspiciously like Nami.

I couldn't turn around so I hoped that Zoro and Usopp could do enough to protect her and themselves.

XxX

When I got to the clearing I was met with a shocking sight. Nami, Vivi and Zoro were caught in a giant white cake-thing with a spinning top that was... snowing? The three of them, along with Brogy were slowly being covered with the snow. There was a man with a '3' hairdo laughing at them, and a small girl sitting on a blanket drinking tea.

The '3' haired man looked in my direction and I ducked behind a tree. My wounded leg hurt suddenly, and I stumbled out of my hiding spot. The man looked at something behind me and yelled, "Add her to the collection, Mr. Five!"

I spun around and was met with a huge explosion that knocked me unconscious.

* * *

><p>AN

Anni: I. Did. It. I wrote this whole chapter in one day! Sorry if it's a bit short. I had to look up the summary of the Little Garden arc again and I tried to fit most of the leading up events into one chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and the next chapter should be out within a week.

P.S. The spider might return. (^-^)

See ya!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N

Sorry! I've been caught up with English class sonnets (they will all burn) and French class family trees, and worst of all, science fair. I also had some inspiration blocks, so please forgive my late, late, late update...

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Anni's POV<p>

When I finally came to, my feet were stuck in a waxy substance that felt like a giant candle, but stronger. Looking around, I saw that I was trapped in the same material that had imprisoned Nami, Vivi, and Zoro. All three of them were to my right, but I noticed that none of my nakama were moving, and they had all seemed whiter than normal.

"Hey! Can you guys hear me?" I shouted.

Nami responded stiffly, "Barely. We're being turned into wax statues as we speak. Luffy is trying to break the candle, but he's only making it worse."

I nodded, feeling stiffer than usual. "So we're all dead."

Zoro turned his head a fraction of the way towards us. "Oi. You'd better strike a pose while you can. If you don't, you'll regret it later."

Stumbling over her words, Vivi stammered, "W-we have to believe in Luffy-san. We will not die here! I must stop the rebellion!"

Feeling slightly encouraged, I turned my attention to the fight going on in front of the candle. Luffy had splatters of paint all over him, and he looked out of breath as he faced the little girl I saw earlier. She painted a symbol in the air and it flew towards Luffy, only inches away from hitting him.

I assumed that the paint was the girl's weapon. My guess was proven right as she explained her ability. The paint controlled the emotions of the person that it touched, and their actions would be controlled by the emotion that they were feeling.

As she talked about emotions, I suddenly got a completely unrelated and wonderful idea. If this was candle wax, then shouldn't fire melt it? As Luffy continued to fight, I decided to try it.

Closing my eyes, I willed my powers to light me on fire. As the flames licked up my body, I focused on increasing the heat to melt the wax surrounding the four of us.

Slitting my eyes open, I saw Luffy still under the effects of the paint as he sat on a blanket drinking tea. Suddenly, Usopp burst through the bushes riding on a panicked looking Carue.

"Luffy?! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled incredulously.

Luffy struggled to stand up. "I want to help... but I can't because of this shitty ability she has." He muttered in a strained voice.

Stepping out of the bushes was a man that I recognized as the one who had captured me. He was aiming a gun at Usopp, and the latter hadn't seemed to have noticed.

Shooting a stream of fire at the guy, I pushed him back into the woods. Turning around as best I could I yelled, "Oi! Watch out for crazy exploding people! I'm concentrating on getting the four of us out of here!"

Usopp nodded, turning to fire a flame shot at Luffy. I was about to yell, when I realized that he was burning Luffy's shirt, and the paint along with it.

Refocusing, I increased the heat of my own fire. My nakama that were stuck in the candle were hardening at a rapid pace. I willed the destructive power of the fire to be aimed at the wax, while the life-giving aspect would protect the people inside.

The candle around my feet was beginning to soften, and I yanked one of my feet out. Now I could fully turn towards my statue comrades. Raising both hands, I directed my flames towards the three of them. As the fire raged around them, they twisted and shook off the wax like it was flour.

Zoro, Nami, and Vivi all jumped to the ground as a huge white robot stomped out of the forest. The robot took one look at the giant candle and the lone figure still remaining there, while the others stood on the ground, and screamed.

"Noo! Why? How? It's not possible for anyone to break my Doru-Doru wax!"

_Doru-Doru... Another Devil's Fruit? How many are there?_

I smirked. "If it's anything like normal candles, the wax should melt. I have fire-style powers, so your wax is practically useless."

Gasping like it was a life-changing revelation, he looked around and yelled, "That's impossible! My wax is as hard as steel!"

Turning to the small girl, he instructed, "Miss Goldenweek! Paint my robot with your most powerful colours! Artistically." he added as an afterthought.

The little girl's paintbrush blurred through the air, sending paint flying towards the robot. The now colourful robot lunged at Luffy, who had sparkles in his eyes at the sight of the robot.

Deciding to tune out the battle, I turned my attention towards Brogy, who was still encased in wax. I forced my remaining energy to fuel the fire and aim it in the direction of the giant. Shooting a blast of fire, I hoped it would be enough to free him before I ran out of energy.

There was no way that this technique could kill me, but it could drain all of my energy and, as a result, I could black out. That was a definite disadvantage in a fight, so that's why I didn't use the technique often. Only for dire circumstances or when there was someone to back me up. Now, there was both, so I was safe for now.

The shell encasing his arm broke as he stretched and roared to the sky. Grinning at me, he stomped over to the robot and picked it up, squeezing it until it cracked. Unfortunately, one of the spikes on the robot pierced his finger, and Brogy dropped him, yelling in pain.

Meanwhile, I had run out of energy, and slumped to the ground. Then, I realized that I wasn't on the ground. I was still stuck on the candle, with one foot still stuck in the wax!

"Oi! Guys! I can't get myself out! If you have the time before kicking their asses, get me out of here!"

Jumping up to me, Zoro took in my predicament.

"I could cut off your leg. That would work." He stated bluntly.

I raised one hand to cover my foot, although I knew it would do no good if he decided to go through with his 'plan'.

"No. You've done enough to me today." I replied.

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he muttered, "I would appreciate it if you didn't mention that around the others. It's embarrassing."

I grinned, now equipped with blackmail ammo. "Heh. So if you don't want me to tell them, maybe you could figure out a different plan..."

I trailed off, looking at Usopp, who had given Carue a rope, but was now being sat on by a lady with a lemon dress and umbrella. The strange thing was, from Usopp's reaction, she weighed a lot. More than a normal human being would, for sure.

He glanced up at me and yelled, "Light Carue's rope! It's soaked in oil and will melt the wax!"

I had to admit, it was a good plan. The only problem was, we had no fire, and I would practically die if I used the same technique that soon after the last time.

Luffy's head snapped around at Usopp's yell. Turning back to the wax monster robot he was currently fighting, his eyes widened with an idea. Grabbing the man's hair, which had lit on fire like a candle, he started dragging it towards the rope, bringing the man along too.

"Noo! What are you doing to me? This is unfair! How can you even-"

He broke off as the flame touched the rope, and it sprang to life with flames roaring around the giant sculpture. Glancing down I noticed that Nami and Vivi were caught it the fire too.

Because the two girls below and Zoro weren't fire proof like me, and I was still stuck, I directed them to get out of the fire as fast as they could. Then, wrenching my ankle out of the softening wax, I followed them, jumping down from the candle that had imprisoned me.

As I got past the flames, I could see that Luffy, Carue, the candle man, and the little girl were gone. I suspected that Luffy and Carue had run into the forest and were gonna beat the other ones up.

Turning my attention back to our fight in the clearing, I saw that Nami and Vivi had taken down the lemon umbrella lady with a staff and spinney peacock pinky thingies respectively. To the other side, The explosions guy was pointing a gun at the three of them.

"Oi, guys! Look out for the gun!" Was all I could manage before subsiding into a fit of coughing.

Usopp turned and shot something into the man's mouth, making his face start to turn red.

"Ha! It was a tabasco star! You shouldn't expect anything less from the great Usopp-sama!" he yelled triumphantly, waving his catapult like a flag.

The man fell to the ground, panting. Then, looking up, he started to run forwards, yelling, "I'm going to kill you all with my full-body explosion!"

Just when he was about to explode, a flash shot by him, slicing him in half with flaming katana. Landing, Zoro sheathed his katana and said, "I could get used to using katana on fire. They're not half bad."

"Zoro!" The two girls and Usopp said with obvious relief.

Suddenly, the ground shook wildly. Spinning around in panic, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Brogy towering over us, yet still sitting. He glanced towards his fallen companion, then, with a look of determination, said, "We still need to get the other two. Let's go!"

Then, without any warning, he looked over at the other giant again and started to bawl. There were tears falling everywhere. Cringing against the downpour, I limped over to the other four, who were also bracing themselves in case a big one hit them and knocked them out.

Wincing, Zoro muttered, "It's like a waterfall."

"I've never seen someone cry this much." Nami said in awe.

Vivi simply stared at the gigantic tears falling from the sky while Usopp sniffled in pity.

Then, from the forest we heard a rustle and a shout of, "Look! A rainbow! Cool!"

None of us needed to turn to know that it was Luffy and Carue, returning from their 'beat up the bad guys' adventure. As they stepped into the clearing, I glanced at the fallen giant, then did a double-take. He was supporting himself on his sword and kneeling, but most shocking, he _wasn't dead_!

"Dorry!" Brogy shouted in surprise. "What? How..."

Dorry grumbled, "I guess that I was unconscious this whole time."

He paused, thinking, then continued, "I'm sure it was your weapon. Fighting for all these years must have dulled the blade."

Brogy laughed, still crying. "I'm so happy you are alive! Kaapapapapaa!"

Suddenly, I remembered that we hadn't seen Sanji in a while.

"Hey... has anyone seen Sanji? He left to look for Nami, but he isn't here."

Silence.

"Oh yeah. Where _is_ Sanji?" Luffy asked.

Zoro sighed. "Man. I bet he went and got himself lost in this damn jungle."

I sat down on the grass, suddenly feeling the fatigue that I had been pushing away throughout the fight.

"Ghaa... He'll be alright." I groaned. "If anyone wants to look for him, you should do it now. If not, let's party!"

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

Nami looked up at the giants. "By the way, how long does it take for the Log to set?"

I turned my head in her direction. "What's a Log?" I asked.

"Oh, that's right. I keep forgetting that you haven't been here for the past adventures. The Log Pose is this." she held out her wrist, where there was a hollow glass ball, with a compass needle inside. "It adapts to each islands magnetic field, pointing us in the direction of the next island."

"Oh, okay." I said, suddenly wondering why I didn't ask about the directions sooner.

Brogy leaned over us. "It takes a year for the Log to adapt here on Little Garden."

"So, is that normal?" I asked, feeling that it was a long time to wait.

By the look on Nami's face, it was not a normal wait time. "Whaaat?" she screamed. "A year?"

The rest of the crew sighed at the news.

Luffy, getting over it first, brought out a package of senbei and yelled, "Anyways, lets have a senbei party!"

Usopp sighed. "It won't be a party if we only have senbei."

"What? We can kanpai with them, right? So it's fine."

As they continued with whatever they were doing, Nami slapped her hip. "Ow!"

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked.

"Nothing, just a bug bite." Nami replied.

Suddenly, a black blur nearly trampled me on it's way over to Nami.

"Nami-swan! Vivi-chwan! Look! I have an Eternal Pose to Arabasta!"

More silence.

I glared at him from the ground.

"Three questions. One, where the hell did you go? Two, what the hell did you do? Three, why the hell did you nearly run me over?"

Suddenly looking suspiciously serious, he picked me up from the grass.

"Ah. I did not mean to hurt such a beautiful lady like you. Let me make it up to you somehow..." He said, leaning close to me.

I ducked away from him. "No. Just no."

Nami punched the back of his head. "Oi, baka. Do you mind telling us how you got an Eternal Pose to Arabasta?"

Sanji launched into a detailed explanation of his adventure. He had gotten distracted by a small hut with tea, that he later found out was Mr. 3's (the name of the candle guy). He had picked up a Den Den Mushi call from Mr. 0 (the head of an organization trying to take over Arabasta) and had pretended to be Mr. 3, saying that he had completed the mission. Then, a vulture and a chipmunk/beaver thing had tried to kill him, and after he had defeated them they dropped the Eternal Pose meant for Mr. 3.

Luffy's fist shot up in the air. "Yosh! So is there anything else we need to do here? 'Cuz now we can go to Arabasta and stop the rebellion!"

Everyone cheered and Vivi ran over to hug Sanji. "Thank you Sanji! Now we can set sail and save my kingdom!"

"Oh, it wasn't anything really..." Sanji replied with a perverted grin on his face.

"SENBEI PARTY!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically.

As I walked past Sanji and Zoro, Zoro said, "Hey, you guys didn't forget about our hunting contest, did you?"

I smirked. "No. How could I forget about my prize?"

"Hey! I won!"

"No, we haven't judged them yet!"

A thought suddenly struck me. "Yeah, isn't that why we came all this way? To get the judges?"

The three of us turned to Nami and Usopp with fake grins. They flinched and said together, "L-let's wait until we get back and can see them for ourselves..."

The giants spoke up. "A hunting contest?"

Brogy turned to Dorry. "Is that what it was?"

"I think I remember now. That was it." Dorry replied.

"What was what?" I interrupted.

The two giants grinned. "Our fight." They said.

"We were leaders each of our own tribe. We were hunting and we both brought back giant monsters, but then a little girl asked which one was bigger. We couldn't agree on the winner, so we came here to decide the winner."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Absolutely incredible. All this over a hunting contest"

XxX

"No, mine's bigger!"

"Yeah, well mine's fatter!"

"You're both idiots! Mine is the biggest!"

Nami looked down from the side of the Going Merry.

"Anni, weren't you the one who said that getting mad over a contest is not worth it?"

"SHUT UP! I didn't understand how smart those giants were until this happened! You just don't understand it yet." I yelled back.

Luffy hung over the railing. "I'm hungry... Can't you guys just load up all the meat and be done with it?"

Usopp and Vivi nodded in agreement.

"But then what are we supposed to do about the prize?" We said together.

"IGNORE IT! We're just gonna set sail to Arabasta!" Nami shouted, fed up with our antics.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine."

Lifting the meat onto the ship was a tedious process because Luffy kept wanting us to store more of it so that he could eat it. Finally the ship was full, and we set off to the moaning of 'can't we have more meat?' from Luffy.

XxX

Reaching the end of the river, the two giants were standing on either side of it, waiting for us to pass through.

"You guarded our honor with your lives. We shall do the same to you." boomed Dorry.

"Believe in us and continue straight ahead, no matter what should appear." continued Brogy.

"Alright!" Luffy said, with a determined look. "We go straight ahead, no matter what!"

As the ship exited the river, the sea started to swell in front of us. Then, from the waves, an enormous red goldfish burst out of the sea. Looking back, The weapons of the two giants started to glow, red for Brogy, and blue for Dorry.

Nami screamed, "Quick, turn the helm or we'll get eaten! Hurry!"

Usopp shook his head. "No, we're going on ahead, right Luffy?"

Luffy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. The giants told us to, so that's what we're going to do."

The fish opened its mouth, ready to swallow us. I gripped onto the railing, prepared to be eaten.

"Straight ahead! Straight ahead!" Luffy yelled.

Suddenly, a force blew clean through the fish, propelling the ship out and onto the open sea. Running to the back of the ship, I yelled to the giants, "Thanks!"

Laughing, we continued on our journey to Arabasta.

"Kaapapapapaa!"

"Gyaagyagyagyagyaa!"

"Kaapapapapaa!"

"Gyaagyagyagyagyaa!"

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><p>AN

I'm so sorry for being late with the update. I'm kinda busy with school, but you guys are so amazing that I had to upload this chapter at the expense of my homework. I'm probably not gonna update for a week or so, just until I get my science fair project over with. To all of you with the same problem, good luck.

If you guys wouldn't mind leaving even a small review on where I should go with this story, please do. I'd love to know what you think of the story so far, and have your ideas of what to do next. This is so that I can plan out something while I'm doing homework, and you guys will keep enjoying the story.

See ya!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

So yeah. Science fair + poetry finals = Stress. I'm sorry for not writing this sooner though. Two weeks! I feel so bad for abandoning you... I'm a terrible person... But anyways! At least I'm uploading this now! I will now stop boring you with my apologies and get to the story!

Enjoy!

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><p>Anni's POV<p>

We had been sailing for quite a few days now. Surprising, considering how little happened on the boat. I had been observing everyone's habits and obsessions, which was actually a great way to pass the time when there weren't fights going on over food, sake, or completely irrelevant things. I learned a lot about everyone's personalities and ways to bug them.

Sanji obsessed over Nami and Vivi (and sometimes me) which was really exasperating for all of us (but it was a good thing when I wanted special food). Luffy couldn't stay full for more than five minutes, so he was constantly begging Sanji for food. When he wasn't, he was sitting on the goat head on the front of the ship. Usopp was always building something or repairing the ship, which actually had many more 'injuries' than I would expect for a ship. Nami and Vivi were mostly talking about navigation and ruling a country, but sometimes Vivi would stop talking and stare off at the horizon, like she expected her country to come flying to the ship. Zoro constantly slept on the deck, but when he wasn't, he usually had some kind of bottle in his hand.

I heard mostly everyone's stories, but neither Zoro nor Luffy told me about their past. I heard vague things, like that Luffy got his hat from his role model and father figure, Shanks, and that Zoro wanted to become the best swordsman in the world, but there was still someone that he needed to beat. Personally, I understood their want to not share. I didn't want to either but I promised my nakama that I would tell them the full story sometime.

The weather was beautiful and unchanging. It was so different from where I used to live, so I spent most of my free time on the front deck on a chair, desperately trying to make my skin even slightly darker. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about getting burned thanks to my fire-style powers, so I usually fell asleep listening to the surprisingly relaxing arguments, yelling, and snoring.

I was sleeping peacefully when a sudden weight slammed into my stomach. Grunting in pain and annoyance, I slowly opened my eyes to see a grinning Luffy tumble off of me.

"Luffy... what are you doing?" I groaned tiredly, looking at my idiot captain.

He sat up grinning like nothing had happened. "Shishishi. You're funny. If you were Zoro or Nami, you would have bitten off my head!" He looked past me to the top of the mast. "Sanji kicked me off the mast because I wasn't paying attention on watch, but really, I'm the captain so he shouldn't have put me on watch in the first place! Right?"

I rolled over in my chair, muttering, "Tell Sanji that he's an idiot. Actually, you're an idiot too, so I guess it doesn't matter."

Luffy walked around me to face me and sat down, crossing his legs. "You haven't told us much about you yet. Do you have a dream, or a goal that you want to accomplish?"

I closed my eyes and thought about it. "No, not really. I guess I haven't thought about it much."

Luffy turned to me with a serious look, unusual for the hyperactive captain. "You should. The people on this ship, they're here because they have dreams worthy of achieving, and the spirits to match."

I felt slightly unwanted. "So, what? Are you gonna kick me off because I don't have a dream?"

Luffy smiled widely. "No, silly. I'm saying that I know you have the spirit to achieve a dream, but you're just not sure yet. If you talk to the rest of the crew about their dreams, I'm sure you'll find something that resonates with you."

Sitting up, I reached out and stretched my arm around Luffy in a kind of half hug. "You're like one of my childhood friends, he was always talking about dreams. Wonder where he is now?"

Luffy grinned. "Shishishi. If your friend has a dream, then I'm sure he's fine, whatever it is."

His stomach growled and I brought my arm back.

"Argh! I didn't eat enough at breakfast, and at my snack, and my second snack, and-"

I cut him off. "Geez, just go eat already! I'm sure that Sanji'll make you something if you say that I sent you."

He stood up, chuckling. "Yeah. Sanji'll make any kind of food for you."

He started down the stairs, and then a thought struck me.

"Wait, Luffy... what's your dream?" I said curiously.

He turned around and faced me with a determined grin.

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King by sailing around the Grand Line and claiming One Piece!"

Lying back on my chair, I smiled. I was gonna have to think about this.

_What do I really want to do?_

XxX

I was proud to say that I was getting used to meals with my nakama. I had developed a technique to get as much of any food that I wanted. The trick was to wait until Luffy stretched to grab something off of Sanji, Nami, or Vivi's plate. When this happened, Sanji would grab Luffy's hand and lecture him about stealing food from other people. (How dare you steal food from a beautiful and slightly helpless lady like Nami-swan or Vivi-chwan!) Then, when Luffy couldn't move his arm, I took as much as I could off of the plates in the middle and ate as fast as I could. On the occasions that I didn't finish my food fast enough, I would 'casually' raise my fork and keep it over my plate, ready to stab anything that tried to take my food.

Sanji had called us for lunch right after Luffy had gone to ask for food. The blond cook had made a delicious looking buffet, with pitas and every filling you could imagine. The table was covered with plates and piled high with meats, vegetables, and cheeses.

I joined Luffy and Usopp at the door, our jaws dropping at the sheer amount of food that Sanji had cooked for the crew. The cook in question spun towards us, bypassing the two guys and dropping to one knee in front of me.

"I apologize profusely for my actions earlier. I made this lunch for you, and I hope that you can forgive me."

Confused, I pulled on Sanji's shoulder until he stood up. "What did you do? I don't remember you doing anything wrong."

He covered his visible eye with his hand, appearing dispirited. "A true man must own up for his mistakes. I kicked the lazy captain off of the mast because he was abandoning the job that Nami-san set him, but I didn't know that you were relaxing comfortably and elegantly on the deck where he landed. Regrettably, I could not come and apologize at that moment, because I had to take over his job."

I remembered that Luffy had said something about that. "Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. We ended up having a nice conversation, so you don't need to feel sorry about anything."

He sighed gratefully, placing an arm around my shoulders to lead me to the table. Squirming out of his too-close embrace, I darted to the table, sitting in a free spot between Nami and Vivi.

I looked back at Sanji, to kind of apologize, but he had seated himself beside Nami and had struck up a conversation about the plans for the next island. As I ate, I heard snippets of their conversation. Apparently, the next island we were going to was a winter island, and it was rumored to have great doctors.

I heard a slight sigh from my other side, and I turned to see Vivi looking dejectedly at her food as she picked at it, not eating.

Wondering what could have put her in this mood, I said, "Hey, Vivi, what's wrong? I noticed that you've been kinda down lately. Are you worried about Arabasta?"

She flinched, startled by my question. "Yeah, I am. I'm worried about my father, and the people, and the war that is about to break out. I can't stand being away and I want... I really want to go home." She sniffled.

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I can't say that I know how you feel, or that everything is gonna be alright, but I can try to help you kick the guy's ass. What was his name again?"

She smiled through her sadness. "The bastard taking over my country is Crocodile."

I grinned despite myself because I had never heard Vivi swear before now.

"Alright. I promise, I'll do my best to get your country back. I won't stop until he's lying dead at my feet. Sound good?"

Tears sparkled in her eyes. Another hand put itself over mine and we looked back to see Sanji standing with a determined look in his eye, and Nami with her hand on Vivi's other shoulder.

Vivi was struggling to not let tears fall, but despite her efforts, they slid down her face, dripping onto the table.

"Th-Th-Thank you guys so much! You have no idea how much this means to me..." She said, covering her mouth with her hand.

The rest of the crew stood up and walked over to us, offering comforting words. Luffy sat down beside me and softly whispered, "Have you thought of anything yet?"

I turned my head slightly, smiling. "Nah, I'll wait until everyone's dreams are accomplished. Then I'll think about something for myself."

The usually hyper captain looked slightly surprised, but quickly recovered. "With that attitude, I'm sure you won't be waiting long."

The moment seemed sad, happy, calm, and perfect all at the same time. That is, until Nami tumbled to the floor, her face flushed and sweaty.

"Nami!"

"Nami-swan!"

"What's wrong?"

"What the hell just happened to her?"

Nami, seemingly unable to hear us, simply lay there, occasionally groaning.

Vivi, quickly taking charge, ordered us to back away from our collapsed nakama. Turning to me she ordered, "I think she's sick. Anni and Zoro, take her to our room and put her on the bed. I'll get medicine, so just stay with her and if she wakes up, get her whatever she wants."

The swordsman and I rushed to pick her up, slinging one arm around each of our shoulders. Stumbling a little, we carried her to the girls room, laying her across her bed. I grabbed the blankets from mine and Vivi's mattress beds and draped them over Nami, while Zoro went and got a glass of water to set on the side table. Nami stirred once, slightly, but other than that, she stayed still the whole time.

Vivi came with pain-killers, the only medicine we had on the ship. She ordered me to get a cloth to lay on Nami's forehead, and Zoro to get any other spare blankets on the ship. Eventually, the entire crew had gathered in our room, either sitting on the mattresses, or running around to get stuff for Nami. It became abundantly clear that none of us had any medical experience, aside from injury fixing and light colds. Vivi had picked up the most medical stuff, so we relied on her until we were all worn out and tired.

When there was nothing anyone else could do, we eventually all lay down in some part of the small room, and fell asleep.

XxX

In the middle of the night, I woke up. Slowly. I hadn't had a bout of insomnia for a few years, so I had thought that I was over it. Deciding to make the best of it, I opened my eyes and immediately smiled at the sight before me. The entire crew was sprawled over one another, save for Nami who was still motionless, but I thought that I could see the ghost of a contented look on her face.

Vivi was slumped against the bed, but she was the only one not covered in other people. I was lying on Zoro's arm, while my knees acted as a pillow for Luffy's head. Sanji was lying on his stomach with his feet on Usopp's legs, while Usopp was slouched against the wall. Various arms were everywhere, we all had at least one that didn't belong to us.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of belonging. I had found friends and a family in this crew full of dreams. All I really wanted was to stay with them, and I wouldn't let a single one of them die on this journey. I would make sure that they all achieved their dreams, even if I had to stare Death in the face and ring his doorbell. I would do it for my nakama.

Suddenly, I yawned and felt my eyelids droop. I slid back into a deep sleep, but just before my eyes closed, I thought I saw Nami stir.

XxX

In the morning, Nami was worse. Vivi had woken up early to check on her, but her temperature had risen to an alarming number. In a panic, she had stumbled around, waking everyone up. After we had all gotten untangled from the arms and legs that were covering the room and stuck under other people, we rushed around getting anything that was remotely helpful.

Sanji cooked a beautiful meal for Nami, saying that it was the most nutritional thing she would ever eat, and that it would make her better immediately. Usopp and Luffy set up a fan in her room to keep her cool, and Zoro and I stayed as Vivi's errand people for all of her ideas that would surely make her better. I could see the leader in her, the leader that was concerned about her friends. It was almost like looking at Luffy when he was determined.

The real surprise came when I was on watch duty. I was looking through my improved spyglass when I caught a glimpse of a... person?

Looking over the edge, I called out to the crew.

"Oi! There's a... person there! Out standing on the water!"

Zoro, who was sleeping on the deck, opened one eye and said, "Nope. You're crazy. People can't stand on water."

Frustrated, I dropped the spyglass on his head. I was content with the cracking sound and the yell of pain that followed.

"What the hell did you do that for, flame-brain?"

Leaning over, I smiled sarcastically. "Look for yourself. There's a person on the water."

Rolling his eyes, he lifted the spyglass to his eye, looking out at the sea.

"W-Wha..." The spyglass clattered to the ground as Zoro stared at the person who was standing on the waves.

I smirked. "_Now_ tell me that people don't stand on water."

He looked up at me. "They don't. This is just weird."

I removed a shoe and dropped it on his head.

"Ow! Stop!"

I dropped my other shoe.

"Seriously, flame-brain! That's annoying!"

"Fine. I'm out of shoes, anyways," I huffed.

Luffy and Usopp walked out of the kitchen.

"What's going on, guys? Did you see something?" Usopp asked as Luffy picked at his ear with his pinky.

Zoro threw the spyglass to the long-nosed man without saying anything. Usopp had barely caught it when Luffy snatched it out of his hands, pointing it towards the front of the boat where the mysterious man stood. He had the same reaction as Zoro, dropping the spyglass and stuttering.

Suddenly, as the ship drew closer to the man, the waves under his feet parted to show a submarine rising from the sea.

I jumped down to the deck, but nearly fell over as Zoro nudged me.

"See, I told you that people can't stand on the sea."

I scowled, punching him.

"Admit it. You thought that he was standing on the water too."

Turning my attention back to the submarine, I saw that there were three people standing on the top, including the one that I had seen standing on the water who I could see was an archer or joker. There was a short man, who had a gray jaw and a seriously grumpy look to him, the archer/joker person, and a third man who looked like a red haired knight.

"Ooooiiii!"

I spun around, but Vivi was already chastising Luffy for not checking to see if they were enemies or not.

"Have you seen an island around here?" The short man yelled across the water.

I yelled back, "No! That's where we're going, so go find it yourself!"

The man seemed to compress himself, then jumped onto the boat and-

-ate it?

He had literally taken a bite out of the deck. His jaw had expanded to an inhuman shape and bitten the deck, ripping off a chunk of the side. I stared in absolute horror, but Usopp had the most extreme reaction, his scream reaching an octave that I had never heard a human reach.

The man spat out the chunk of deck.

"Blegh. How dare you treat the great Wapol-sama like that?"

Luffy glared at him. "How dare we...? You. Just. Ate. Our. Ship. I'm gonna kick your ass to the moon!"

Stretching his arms back, he snapped them forwards into the short man, propelling him into the distance and sending him into the water. The submarine quickly sped after him as our ship went in the opposite direction, disappearing into the distance.

A stunned silence followed, broken only by Usopp's indignant squeaks regarding the state of the ship. We all returned to our jobs that had been interrupted.

XxX

"Hey, marimo. Guess what."

"You see another floating person."

Clunk.

"Ow! Guess not. What?"

"We finally reached the island."

* * *

><p>AN

So I had a little trouble remembering how the arc went, but it's okay. Did'ja like the heartwarming scenes with Nami, Vivi, and Luffy? Luffy is one of my favorite characters to write and I love his laugh. Anyways! **IMPORTANT QUESTION!** Do you want me to put up a Valentines Day chapter for a few days? If you do, or if you feel that it would be strange, put a review with even just a 'yes' or 'no'. If a bunch of you say yes, I'll whip up something and post it for about a week.

I hope you enjoyed!

See ya!


	7. Chapter 7: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

A/N

It's my first holiday chapter! Yay! So just to make sure, this chapter doesn't really have anything to do with any plot, mine or One Piece's. Think of it as the equivalent of the Luffy Oyabin episodes, but some things will carry over.

Btw, I haven't put a disclaimer in a few chapters, so: I do not own One Piece or its characters. (Anni is my OC though). Also, I don't own the songs that are sung in this chapter.

Enjoy!

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><p>Anni's POV<p>

I woke up to the sounds of a fight as usual. Stumbling out of bed, I decided to not bother with getting dressed, so I stumbled up the stairs to kitchen in my pyjamas. Blinking sleepily, I was met with a sight that made me think that I was going colourblind. The entire kitchen was covered in pink and red streamers, there was a pink tablecloth, the cutlery was sparkling with red glitter and there were balloons hanging from every place imaginable.

Suddenly, breaking me out of my thoughts, a sword flew across the room and embedded itself in the wall next to my head. I blinked and turned to see Sanji trying to pull a streamer necklace covered in hearts over Zoro's head.

"Gahh! You shitty pervert cook! I already told you that I won't wear this... this thing!" Zoro yelled furiously.

"Well if you won't participate, then just stand in the corner and be a decoration!" Sanji replied, still trying to yank the streamer over his head.

I blinked again, still half asleep.

"Um, Sanji? Why are you trying to make Zoro into a pink decoration?" I mumbled, not completely comprehending the situation.

Both men turned to face me, looks of embarrassment and panic on their faces.

Sanji rushed towards me, ushering me out the door. As I turned, I realized that the other men were outside the door, groaning about food. I glanced back, and Zoro had mysteriously disappeared from the kitchen, no doubt to escape the cook.

As the door closed behind us, Sanji turned to me.

"Do you know what day it is today?"

I had never been good at keeping track of dates.

"Nope. No idea!" I answered.

Sanji spun around me, before resting both hands on my shoulders.

"Ah, how could a beautiful lady like you not know about today? I was sure-"

Nami and Vivi bounced up behind me, yelling in unison, "It's Valentine's Day today!"

Nami stepped between me and Sanji, who ducked back into the kitchen. "And you know what's even better? We've docked at an island that has a huge party this time of year!"

Vivi chimed in, "And they have the most beautiful firework show! I went there once with my father and it was absolutely unforgettable!

Luffy looked interested. "Do you think they have good food? 'Cuz Sanji won't let us into the kitchen, and I'm sooo hungry..."

At this, the kitchen door flew open and Sanji bowed to the three of us girls.

"Lovely ladies, will you come in and eat the breakfast that I have prepared for you?" He said, straightening up and holding the door for us.

Luffy bounded into the kitchen, but Sanji's foot slammed into his face, knocking him outside.

"Your food will be later. You can eat when Nami-swan, Vivi-chwan, and Anni-chwan are done."

I ran into the kitchen and loaded a plate with bacon, eggs, and everything else I could see. The food was strangely tinted pink and red, but other than that, it was delicious. After we were done eating, the door nearly broke as the other guys rushed in to eat.

When we got out of the room, Nami and Vivi dragged me to our room to pick out a 'cute outfit that will surely get you a date'. They chose a white blouse with a light pink cardigan, a darker pink miniskirt, silver flats and white thigh high socks. I didn't even want to look at the under garments they picked out.

I took one look at the clothes and turned my back to them.

"There is no way in hell that I will ever wear something as dumb as that."

Nami smirked, twirling the key to the trapdoor around her finger. "Well, I'm sure we can figure something out. After all, we feel that it's our personal mission to get you ready for Valentine's Day. So, with that in mind, you can leave the room when you put these on."

Vivi smiled, walking up the stairs. "Don't worry about it. Looking good is the first step to feeling good."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I shouted as the trapdoor clicked shut.

Ten minutes of sulking later, I put on the lacy pink outfit and stomped up the stairs to pound on the trapdoor.

"Oi, Nami! Let me out! I put on the stupid outfit."

It opened a crack, and I could see one of Nami's eyes make sure that I had put on everything they had told me to. She pushed it back to let me up, but I had already stomped out in a huff.

I sat down on a chair outside to try and forget about the stupid holiday. There were only twelve more hours until the firework show at ten o clock, so I would just have to turn invisible until then.

Unfortunately, Nami and Vivi seemed to have other ideas. They walked up to me and sat down on chairs on either side of me. Groaning, I rolled my eyes.

"What torture do you guys have planned for me now?"

Nami grinned like a cat cornering its prey.

"You, my friend, need a date."

"What? I don't need a date!" I sputtered.

Vivi grinned the same way that Nami did.

"Yes you do. It's Valentine's Day, and you can't go to the fireworks party with out a date!" she said enthusiastically.

I groaned in annoyance. "So, who are your dates?"

"Sanji." Nami answered.

I sighed. "I should have guessed that one. What about you, Vivi?"

"Usopp."

I choked. "What? Really? I thought he had a girlfriend from back where he lived before, right?"

Vivi smiled. "You're so silly. It's not serious, it's just for today. Plus, I have a very good friend back home too."

I stretched my arms over my head.

"So... you guys are gonna make me ask out either Luffy or Zoro, right?"

They nodded.

"Ugh... why me..."

I tilted my head back over the edge of the seat to see a yellow head and orange beak staring at me.

"Eh...? Carue?"

Carue squawked at me.

"Hey, Carue, do you wanna go on a date with me?" I asked, hoping that he counted.

Carue backed away, shaking his head and finally darting away into the mini tangerine grove.

Nami bonked me on the head. "People only, baka. Nice try."

So eventually, after much persuading, pushing, and threatening, Nami and Vivi got me to get up and choose one of my two options. Looking around, I spotted Luffy sitting on the side of the boat fishing (even though the boat was docked), and Zoro sleeping on the deck. I had never really asked someone out, so I decided to go with my instinct.

"Go on."

"Ask one of them."

I scowled, stomping over to the two men. I grabbed them both by the ears, and dragged them off the side of the boat into the town.

"C'mon guys. We're going on a date."

From behind me, I heard Nami and Vivi's shocked whispers.

"Both of them?"

"I guess she couldn't decide, huh."

"Do you think she's ever been on a date before?"

"Maybe... but probably not."

I twitched. "SHUT UP, YOU TWO!" I yelled.

Luffy and Zoro flinched, whispering, "We didn't do anything..."

XxX

Stopping in the center of the town, I dropped them.

"Just so you two know, Nami and Vivi told me to do this. Actually, it was more like they threatened..." I trailed off.

Luffy chuckled. "Well, now that we're here, we should get food! That place looks good!"

I looked in the direction he was pointing. It was a clean looking bar, with lots of people in it.

"Sure, sounds good to me."

I turned back to the two men, but they were already heading into the bar.

"Tch. Guess I'm gonna be paying." I muttered to myself as I followed them in.

The bar was nice and tidy, it reminded me of Clara. I followed my 'dates' (this was so weird) to a table next to a small stage. Luffy ordered a steak, Zoro ordered sake, and I ordered both.

Halfway through our meal, a spotlight went on at the stage. A lady came up to the mic and shouted, "It's here! What you've all been waiting for to entertain you until the fireworks! It's time for... karaoke, Valentine's Day edition!"

I rolled my eyes. "This is dumb. I mean, who would want to do that?"

Looking around my table, Luffy and Zoro had disappeared, and were on the stage singing along to the music, which happened to be a song I knew, Love Runs Out (by One Republic).

Luffy: _I'll be your light, your match, your burning sun,_

_I'll be the bright, in black, that's making you run,_

_And we'll feel alright, and we'll feel alright,_

_'Cause we'll work it out, yeah we'll work it out._

_I'll be doin' this, if you ever doubt,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

Zoro: _I'll be your ghost, your game, your stadium,_

_I'll be your fifty thousand clapping like one,_

_And I feel alright and I feel alright,_

_'Cause I worked it out, yeah I worked it out,_

_I'll be doin' this, if you ever doubt,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

Luffy/Zoro: _I got my mind made up, man, I can't let go._

_I'm killing every second 'til it saves my soul._

_(Ooh) I'll be running, (Ooh) I'll be running,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out._

_And we'll start a fire, and we'll shut it down,_

_'Til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out. _

I rolled my eyes as they continued singing, neither of them particularly good at it. When they sat back down, I stared at them, before saying, "I didn't think either of you could sing."

Luffy just laughed it off. "Yeah, we don't sing much on the Merry. We should. And then maybe we could eat meat while we sing. That would be fun!"

Zoro sighed at his idiotic captain before turning to me saying, "Can you sing better?"

I felt slightly insulted. Singing was one of my real talents, but I didn't do it much around other people.

"Yeah, you bet I can!"

Three people later, I found myself shoved onto the stage and the mic put into my hand. I barely had time to look at the title of the song before the music started. I sighed with relief when I recognized the song, Love Somebody (by Maroon 5).

I started singing along, not bothering to look at the lyrics.

_I know your insides are feeling so hollow, (ooh)_

_And it's a hard pill for you to swallow, (yeah)_

_But if I fall for you, I'll never recover,_

_If I fall for you, I'll never be the same._

As I finished the song, the crowd watching me cheered, urging me to sing another, and another, and another.

After four songs, I was starting to get thirsty, so I stepped off the stage and went back to my table, much to the crowds vocalized disapproval. When I sat down, Luffy and Zoro stared at me in disbelief.

"Y-You can sing really well! You should sing all the time!" Luffy stuttered, wide eyed.

Zoro coughed. "Yeah, you're not bad. Although, how did you know all the songs?"

I grinned. "Well, I didn't have many friends, and I don't really remember my family, so I sang a lot in my spare time. Actually, I sang and hummed so much that some of my teachers deducted marks for 'disturbing others'. Funny, huh?"

"So, do you have any other talents that we should know about, Anni?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, like, can you sing and eat meat at the same time?" added Luffy unhelpfully.

"Umm... nope, not really. If I remember any others, I'll tell you guys." I answered.

"Oi! Anni, Luffy, Zoro! Come on! The party is about to start!" yelled Nami from the entrance.

We stood up, paid, and walked out, following Nami and a bunch of walking shopping bags that I assumed was a very pleased Sanji. We met up with Vivi and Usopp, who had gone to a restaurant for lunch, and walked to the dock, where a big party with lots of stalls was set up. The stalls ranged from food, to jewelry, to weapons, to small trinkets.

Luffy immediately ran off to one of the nice smelling meat stalls, then quickly disappeared from view. Nami and the shopping bags walked off to the jewelry shops, and Vivi and Usopp went to the weapons stalls, leaving me and Zoro standing by ourselves.

"So, we're supposed to be on a date, right? What do you want to do?" Zoro said awkwardly.

I responded just as awkwardly, "Umm... I dunno. What do you wanna do?"

He stood there for a second, before walking towards one of the weapons shops that specialized in swords.

"Let's go here. Maybe I can get you a sword." he said.

My eyes shone. "Really? You'll get me a sword?"

He turned to me, disbelief in his eyes. "No. I'll tell you which sword to get, but I won't buy it for you."

"Aww... Why?" I moaned.

"Because Nami won't give me any money, but she gives money to you." he replied.

"Ah."

We walked up to the stall, and I was overwhelmed by the different swords. By the look on his face, so was Zoro. He struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper, occasionally looking towards me, or pulling out one of his three katana to show the shopkeeper. I got bored pretty quickly admiring the swords, so I sat on one of the chairs and picked at my nails for twenty minutes or so.

Zoro eventually came over and pointed to a dagger on a shelf.

"You're not experienced for any of these swords (I scowled darkly), but if you want something to defend yourself with, I would recommend that dagger right there."

The shopkeeper handed it to me to examine. It had a silvery sheath, but when I pulled the blade out, it was a dark black shiny metal. Looking closer at it, I actually couldn't tell whether it was metal, or some kind of stone. The handle was a dark metal, and had white leather wrapped around for a grip. It was light and fast.

"It would be good for you because that metal has an amazingly high melting point, so you can light it on fire without the danger of it melting." Zoro pointed out.

I rested it on the counter and addressed the shopkeeper.

"So, how much is it?"

The shopkeeper answered, "This dagger? It's 500, 000 beli."

I gasped. "Woah... okay then."

I dug around in my bag, looking for my wallet. Just as I found it, the dagger was shoved into my hands and I was dragged away.

As I stumbled to close my bag, I looked up at Zoro.

"I thought you didn't have any money."

He looked away.

"I had more than I thought."

Smiling, I let him drag me to wherever he was going. Actually, where was he going? We had somehow ended up in the middle of a field, with the party nowhere in sight.

"Hey, did you get lost again?"

"No, I don't get lost. It's just that everything else moves when I'm not looking." He huffed.

I looked up at the sky, and it was surprisingly dark.

"Hey, I think it's almost time for the fireworks! We should go find the rest of the crew."

Zoro glanced around at the surrounding field.

"Yeah, but like I said, it moved. I don't know where it is anymore."

Huffing, I grabbed his hand and stomped off in the direction that we came. After a few minutes of walking (which was strange, considering the short time we took to get there), I caught a glimpse of the tents and stalls. I first spotted the giant shopping bags, then the other members of the crew.

Luffy saw us first, yelling, "Oi, Anni! Zoro! You guys were almost late for the fireworks!"

We ran up to them, and just as we got there, fireworks exploded around us, lighting up the docks and the water. Gasps echoed around us from every direction, eventually morphing into cheering and clapping. I looked at my nakama and was pleased to see everyone smiling and laughing. Sanji had even put down his shopping bags and was standing close to Nami, for once not being too overwhelming.

Zoro squeezed my hand, and I flinched. I had forgotten that I had grabbed his hand to drag him back. Sighing, I squeezed his hand back, leaning slightly against him until the fireworks ended.

XxX

Back on the Merry, I was lying on my mattress trying to get to sleep, when I heard a whisper.

"Hey Anni... did you enjoy your date?"

"Yeah, did you?"

"Shut up."

"You did, didn't you?"

"Shut up."

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><p>AN

So this turned out a little fluffier than I intended. It's kinda cute though, right? I tried to keep Nami and Vivi in character while making them act really girly and obsessive about things like Valentine's Day. And come on, you know you've imagined some of the crew singing karaoke at some point. Also, I'm so sorry for abandoning Carue for the last few chapters. :( Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to leave feedback.

See ya!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N

I'm glad to know that you guys enjoyed the Valentine's Day chapter! I saw a very good description of it, a romantic holiday without any romance (thank you pizzafan123). I've decided to not take down the holiday chapters, and just leave them there for later readers.

Ahh! I'm so excited! Chopper is finally entering the story soon! Chopper is so cute with his hat and his paws and his nose-chopsticks! Anyway. Fangirl moment over.

Enjoy!

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><p>Anni's POV<p>

We approached the island slowly. It was a winter island with lots of snow and ice, and huge cylindrical mountains. The air temperature was dropping steadily, but I didn't feel it as much as the others because my fire-style powers kept me warm without thinking. The rest of the crew put on puffy jackets while I stayed in my t-shirt and shorts.

At one point, Vivi tried to get me to wrap up, saying, "You need to keep warm. You might get frostbite, or get sick. And heaven knows that we don't need two sick people on the ship."

I looked from the white jacket to my bare arms and replied, "Vivi, I promise I'll be fine. How am I gonna beat up Crocodile with a cold?"

Vivi smiled with a tinge of sadness. "Knowing you, you'd try to beat him up, cold or not."

"Tsk. Silly Vivi. Not 'try', I _would_." I corrected, then a thought struck me and I added, "Although, it would be harder to punch someone if I was blowing my nose every other second. Maybe I would kick him like Sanji does. That would be interesting."

"Still, at least please wear the jacket. You don't even have to do it up." She insisted, pushing the jacket into my hands.

Sighing, I wrapped it around my waist.

"There, is that good enough?"

Vivi smiled gratefully. "Thank you. If you get cold, then you can put it on." Her tone changed to a stern motherly tone. "And none of that 'I'm not cold, I don't need to put it on'."

"Yes, mother." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

Luffy's voice drifted down from the top of the mast.

"Oi! Guys! We're about to reach the island! First we'll find a doctor for Nami, then we'll stock up on provisions!"

Vivi rushed back to Nami to check on her, leaving me alone on the deck. I gazed up at the sky as white flakes of snow started drifting down from the clouds. Catching one in my palm, I watched as it melted almost instantly.

_I must be really bored if I'm watching snow melt._

Looking up at the island, I watched as the ship drew closer to the snow. We drifted into a river mouth and continued on. The ship was soon covered with snow and every once in a while, someone would come out to admire the sparkly white powder.

I turned from the front to look across the boat. As I did so, a mound of snow moved to the side in the shape of a person. I immediately knew it was Zoro, who had been snoring on the deck a few minutes ago. The snow had covered him, giving the appearance that it was eating him. Deciding to save him from the carnivorous snow, I dug around and found his arm. I pulled him out, but the swordsman was still asleep. I grinned, this was a great opportunity.

I piled up one of the drifts of snow and stuck Zoro's feet in it, then covered the rest of him in snow, giving him the look of a snowman. Bending one of his arms, I stuck one of his katana in his hand, his hand automatically wrapping around it. Running into the girl's room, I grabbed a piece of paper and a marker, scribbling something before dashing back out. I stuck the sign on Zoro's snow covered front, and stepped back to admire my work. It was perfect.

The door to the kitchen opened, and Sanji stepped out. He looked from me to the snow covered swordsman, the walked down the stairs to see my artwork from the front. When he read the sign, he stifled a laugh.

"Well, I'd say that it captures Zoro's personality very well." Sanji said, still trying not to laugh.

The sign read, _Gyaaah! I, the killer snowman Zoro, will destroy you all! Give me sake!_

Combined with his relaxed look and slight snoring, Zoro looked as far from a killer as possible, despite the fact that he was still holding one of his sheathed katana. Sanji snickered, still taking in the scene.

"Do you do this a lot? You don't seem like the kind of person to do this." Sanji said.

I was still admiring my work, but I replied, "Well, not a lot, but it's pretty funny when I get the opportunity. This right here is a work of art."

"It is. Hang on, I have an idea." Sanji agreed, before rushing back into the kitchen. He came out with a purple marker, and drew cat whiskers and a nose on Zoro's face, then added 'kitty' between the words 'snowman' and 'Zoro'. I nodded in approval.

I voice sounded from behind us.

"I hope you know that you two will be in big trouble when he wakes up."

I turned to see Vivi had come back out and was standing with a frown on her face and her arms crossed.

"Geez. Am I not allowed to have some fun? You're so mean." I puffed out my cheeks.

Luffy suddenly bounded out into the snow, nearly knocking Vivi over.

"Woah! You guys made a snowman that looks exactly like Zoro!" He said in admiration.

Sanji and I rolled our eyes.

"That's because the marimo was sleeping. Anni decided to do something funny and then I joined in." Sanji said, looking at the banks of the river that we were gently floating down.

"Hey..." he continued while Luffy poked at the Zoro-snowman, "Don't you think that it's a little weird that no one came to see us? I'm sure that this island is inhabited."

I glanced around. "Yeah, you're right. It doesn't seem like anyone's gonna welcome us onto the island or anything."

Suddenly without warning, a bunch of arrows whizzed past us and lodged themselves in the deck. Jumping back in surprise, I looked up to the ridge on the bank where there were dozens of people dressed warmly aiming crossbows at us.

"Well then..." I started, trailing off when the largest man shifted his aim to me.

"Don't speak! Tell your captain to turn around and sail to the next island."

"Well how am I s'posed to do that if I can't speak?" I grumbled, heading inside to get Luffy, who had wandered back inside to eat.

Opening the door, I yelled, "Oi! Luffy! Get your ass out here! Some giant bears want to talk to you!"

He looked up with an interested expression.

"Oh? Giant bears? And they can talk?"

"No, but you can't deny the resemblance." I smirked, looking back at the twitching man.

Another arrow flew through the air and grazed my shoulder, not deep enough to scar, but enough to sting.

I threw my hands in the air in annoyance. "Sheesh! The world hates me..." I muttered, walking back down onto the deck.

"It would be smart to listen before insulting them," Sanji berated me.

I groaned, sitting down on the snowy side of the ship. Luffy walked down to the center of the deck and called out to the people on the bank, seemingly oblivious to the bows.

"Can you please take us to your doctor? One of our nakama is sick, and we need someone to help her."

The eyes of the large man hardened, and he said stiffly, "No. You must turn around and leave this island at once."

Luffy tried again, bowing his head. "Please. We don't have time to go to another island. We barely even have time to get her on shore."

Another arrow shot by.

"No."

Luffy slowly knelt down on the deck, touching his head to the planks.

"We're _begging_ you to please let us see your doctor. Our nakama might not hold out much longer."

I could see the terrible word forming, so my patience snapped and I yelled, "Hey! Your shitty little minds might not be able to comprehend the situation, but ya know what I see? I see my captain, who I _respect_, kneeling in front of some piece of shit who can't bring his selfish little mind to let a dying person see a doctor!"

Something in my rant must have hit a nerve, because the people started to whisper among themselves. The crossbow of the man in charge lowered slightly, and he spoke in a quieter voice.

"Bring your comrade to me, and we might be able to do something about her condition."

I still scowled. "Finally. I guess some bears do have hearts."

Vivi emerged from the cabin, carrying Nami, who was wrapped in blankets from head to toe. She lay her down on the deck and moved the blankets away from her face so that the man could inspect her condition. He jumped onto the deck with a thump, walked over to Nami and bent down to look at her. Finally, he straightened and spoke in an authoritative voice.

"We have one doctor, but we cannot guarantee when she will come. She lives on a mountain top and only comes down on a whim with her strange creature. We call her a witch. You should bring your comrade into the village. The villagers," he looked pointedly at the people who had accompanied him in shooting at our ship, "will go back to their houses."

Grumbling quietly, they all turned and started back towards their respective houses, while we set about getting ready for the walk into the village.

XxX

Now, you might ask me why I was currently sprawled stomach-down on the deck with a sword aimed at my back. I will give you the short answer first: snowman-kitty woke up, chased me, then cook tripped me. Now for the details:

It was a few minutes after the villagers had left. Most of us were inside, but we had forgotten about our zombie-snowman-kitty who was still outside. It was me who first heard the growl from the door, but it was all of us who noticed when the door was kicked open with an angry Zoro standing in the frame with the marker smudged off his face.

"Geez, man, don't wreak the Merry." Usopp said grouchily.

Ignoring him, the furious swordsman marched up to me and Sanji.

"Which of you was it?" he growled.

My hand immediately flew up to point at Sanji, while he did the same for me. Zoro stared in confusion, but then made up his mind. Apparently, it was me.

"You." he said, drawing one of his katana.

For lack of a better reaction, I yelped and scurried out the door, but Sanji mysteriously appeared and stuck a foot out to trip me.

"Dammit, shit cook!" I yelled as I crashed to the floor ungracefully. I tried to push myself up, but I felt the cold metal of the blade digging into my back. Behind me, I heard Vivi gasp.

"Sanji, how could you do that to a lady?" she asked, horrified.

I laughed from my spot on the ground.

"It's okay Vivi. I don't act like a lady much, so it's fine with me."

"Yes, but still..." she mumbled, trailing off.

I turned my attention to my captor.

"So... what now, snowman?"

The sword pushed me down further.

"You. You will stay like that until you apologize and I see fit to release you."

I groaned. "Well, that's gonna take forever 'cuz I sure as hell don't feel the need to apologize to a baka-marimo like you."

The sword twitched.

"Hey, hey, hey! I don't need three injuries, two is enough for now!"

Sanji coughed. "Yeah, Anni. About that scar on your knee, where did it come from?"

I grinned. "From a huge spider on the giant's island! Actually, I don't think that I killed it..." I trailed off.

From behind me, Vivi and Usopp shivered, and removed themselves from the conversation with the excuse that they had to get Nami ready. Then Luffy spoke up.

"Did it have reddish-orange stripes and long fangs and look like a demon spider?"

I recalled the image and the description fit pretty well.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Shishishi," Luffy chuckled, "That must have been the spider I found in the crow's nest on the mast! He was cool, but I had to make him a cage so he wouldn't fall overboard. He's down in the guy's room."

The sword removed itself from my back.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" said a quiet voice from above my head.

Luffy jumped over the piles of snow to dig out the trapdoor. Opening it, he disappeared, and reappeared with a cage the size of a dog kennel. Inside was a large dark shape that hissed menacingly at the sight of me.

A reflex set my hand on fire, and I walked towards it slowly.

"Luffy, that little bastard needs to die. So back away from the cage."

He covered it protectively.

"No! He's mine, and you can't hurt him! Don't worry, Fluffy," he said to the spider.

"Fluffy?!" Zoro asked incredulously.

Luffy grinned. "Yeah, Fluffy! That's his name, because when you write it down, it looks like Luffy!"

Sanji sighed quietly. "I didn't know you could write. Or read, for that matter."

"Anyways, that abomination does not belong to the land of the living, so it's now my job to remove it." I said venomously, but before I could do anything, the door banged open and Vivi stepped out with Nami hanging from her and Usopp's shoulders.

"Alright! Let's go..." she trailed off, looking at the cage. "Luffy, what is that?"

Before he could answer and scare Vivi and Usopp out of their minds, I pushed him down into the guy's room, making sure not to touch the cage.

"Luffy, leave that thing down here, and I promise not to kill it." I muttered.

He tucked the cage away under a blanket and turned to me. "Promise?"

"...Promise..." I said, dragging the word out.

"Yosha! Let's go save Nami!" he cheered.

XxX

The man came back a few minutes after we were ready. He introduced himself as Dalton. Nami was lifted onto Sanji's back, and we started out towards the village, aside from Zoro, who was volun-told by Luffy to guard the ship with Carue, as long as he didn't hurt Fluffy. Actually, Luffy would have made me stay as well, but he didn't trust me enough to protect (not murder) that atrocity of living beings.

As we walked to the village, a giant bear strolled past us with a pick in its hands. Dalton told us that it was a Hiking Bear, and to bow when we passed it, so we did.

Upon entering the village, we were swarmed with people asking if Dalton was alright. One old man mentioned, "Ah, Dalton. I'm looking forwards to the election. I'm sure we're all going to vote for you!"

Dalton responded negatively, saying that he had too many sins to be whatever their leader was called, king, emperor, mayor... yeah.

I heard heavy footsteps from behind us. Thinking that it must be another Hiking Bear, I bowed, and Luffy and Usopp followed suit. It was only when the bear spoke, that we realized that it wasn't a bear at all, but a woman. I rubbed the back of my head, slightly embarrassed, until we were ushered inside Dalton's house.

As we lay Nami down on a bed, Dalton spoke to Vivi.

"I feel as though I have met you before. Do I know you?"

Vivi quickly turned her head, and I interrupted, "Hey, so what's that witch like, and what about that 'strange creature'?"

Dalton turned and spoke seriously, "The mountains out there are called the Drum Rockies, and the tallest one had a castle without a king. That is where our witch, Dr. Kureha, lives. However, she does come down from time to time, riding on her sleigh pulled by her strange pet."

I nodded. "Okay, so you're saying that we can't get Nami treated until we climb this mountain, right? This sucks."

"Luffy! What the hell are you doing to Nami?!"

I spun around from the window to see Luffy gently slapping Nami's face.

"Hey... Hey, Nami, can you hear me?"

Nami stirred and opened her eyes slowly as Luffy said, "We need to see a doctor that lives on a mountain, so we're going mountain climbing, 'kay?"

Nami groaned and nodded slightly, before falling back to sleep.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Sanji said incredulously.

Luffy looked at him. "It's fine. I can carry her."

"Yeah, that's not what I meant. How will she survive mountain climbing in this snow?" Sanji asked.

"How will she survive down here, if the witch doesn't come?" I chimed in seriously.

Sanji, Vivi and Usopp stared at me.

"Point taken. So, we're going mountain climbing to save Nami-san's life." Sanji spoke quietly.

Luffy looked around at us. "So it's settled. We will leave in the morning to go find the witch."

* * *

><p>AN

Yeah, short chapter. I really wanted to post something though, because I haven't for the past week or so. :( Anyways, good news! Science fair is over, so I have more time to write! Yay! I will try my best to get the next chapter out within a week.

Hey! The spider returned! I bet you thought that I had forgotten! Don't worry, I have an idea of what to do with it, but feel free to leave suggestions.

Btw, I know you guys are out there... with ideas and suggestions... hint hint... no pressure, seriously, but still...

See ya!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N

Okay, so I have a legit reason this time. The day that I planned to finish and edit the chapter turned out to be the day of three tests and a talent show. Other than that...

Enjoy!

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><p>Anni's POV<p>

In the morning, Luffy, Sanji, and I set off with Nami to the mountain. I packed my bag with essential things like my dagger, a water bottle, and marshmallows. Luffy carried Nami on his back, while Sanji and I came for protection against the Lapahn. Dalton told us to go on the opposite slope to avoid being attacked by the giant rabbits. I personally thought that we could take on a few bunnies and Luffy and Sanji agreed, so before anyone could complain, we set off in the direction of the mountain.

We were walking for an hour or so when we first caught a glimpse of the first one. It was about knee height, the same as that demon spider that I was going to murder. It growled murderously, and jumped at my knees, but Sanji kicked out at it and sent it flying into a tree. It shook off the snow and leaped again, but this time I shot a fireball at it, knocking it into one of the many snowdrifts.

As we continued up the slope, the over-sized bunny jumped repeatedly at us, but it didn't cause much of a disturbance aside from the inconvenience of knocking it away. It eventually disappeared into the trees, but I felt that it didn't really go away.

The snow flakes started to blow harder, stinging against my skin. I contemplated putting on the jacket that Vivi gave me, but my stubbornness won out and I just pulled it tighter around my waist.

Sanji noticed this and asked, "Hey, Anni, how do you put up with the cold? It makes me cold just to look at you."

"Well then don't look at me. I have fire-style powers, remember? I'm not affected by temperature much." I grumbled.

Luffy chuckled. "You look kinda cold to me. I mean, your hands are turning slightly blue and all..."

Sanji, not breaking his stride, ran over to me and inspected my hands. He looked like he was about to say something mushy and flirty, but a strange, serious look came over his face and he continued running with a, "Don't get frostbite. We still need to get Nami to the doctor, and if you pass out, we won't get there as fast."

Now thoroughly annoyed, I muttered, "Don't worry, love cook. If I pass out, I'll just keep sleep running through muscle memory. I've done it a few times before. I'm a pro."

Sanji mumbled just loud enough for me to hear, "Shitty stubborn pyro."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him, refocusing on the path ahead, where there were... what exactly? A dozen or so bears -no, rabbits, I realized- had blocked the path and were growling ferociously at us. The biggest one in the center had a scar over one eye, and behind it I spotted the bunny that had been constantly bugging us. It looked at me and snarled, but compared to the others it was too cute for me to take seriously.

Despite the menacing sight in front of us, I giggled at the small bunny. Luffy's and Sanji's heads both swiveled in my direction, and even Nami stirred slightly, raising her head a fraction.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"Y-You..." Luffy stuttered slowly.

"What?!" I questioned more forcefully.

"You don't..." Sanji started.

"I. Don't. What?!" I asked in a very final tone.

"You don't make that kind of noise." He finished.

I scoffed. "So you guys are surprised because I laugh?"

Luffy shook his head. "No, because you just _giggled_."

Huffing, I rolled my eyes, turning back to the rabbits, who looked kinda pissed off that we were ignoring them.

"So, these are the Lapahn?" I asked, changing the subject.

Luffy shook his head vehemently. "No. They're big and white and furry. They're polar bears, not rabbits." he chuckled, continuing, "I think you're just nervous about them, because rabbits don't look like this."

Without any warning, the lead rabbit leaped at us, clearing a good fifteen feet or so. Skidding backwards, I heard Sanji exclaim, "Shit, it's unnatural. How the hell can it move like that?"

"Idiot, it's a rabbit. Were you expecting it to crawl?" I said sarcastically.

"No, it's a jumping polar bear!" Luffy corrected.

I straightened up and lit my fists on fire, preparing to attack, but Luffy put an arm out.

"Our first priority is to get Nami to the doctor." he said, leaping over the rabbits.

Sanji and I followed suit, only pausing to give the rabbits a warning kick or punch. Unfortunately, the rabbits didn't take kindly to us passing through. They jumped at us all at once and we had to dodge the swinging paws and huge bodies. Luffy stretched an arm back to attack but both Sanji ans I grabbed it and pulled it back carefully.

"Baka! If you attack, Nami will feel the shock!" Sanji scolded, kicking out at the furry attacker.

I whipped around and punched away another Lapahn before it could hit Luffy and Nami.

"Same goes for if you get hit. So just dodge and keep running. We'll catch up in a sec."

I shoved a protesting Luffy in the direction of the mountain, and turned to face the giant... fearsome... ferocious... bunnies.

_I don't believe this. Luffy has to retreat because of a bunch of bunnies. My life is..._

I sighed and turned to Sanji.

"Alright! I'll take the ones on the right, you take the ones on the left, and if either of us is about to die, don't forget to scream."

He smiled dryly at my evaluation of the situation.

"Sounds good, but try not to die, 'cause the others would kill you." He replied sarcastically.

I laughed and sprung into the mass of Lapahn, fists flying everywhere. I pulled out my dagger, but then I felt a stab of regret for slicing up these rabbits, no matter how evil they seemed.

The one with the scar seemed practically indestructible, as I kept hitting it and it just came back. As I was focusing on it, another came up behind me and slashed at my back, ripping through my shirt. I swore, stumbling slightly. I could feel the warm blood soaking through my clothes and dripping onto the snow. It wasn't deep, but it was certainly painful and inconvenient.

_Shitshitshit..._

I suddenly got an idea to end this in one go.

"Sanji, back off!" I yelled over the noise.

Mustering my energy, I jumped back out of the fight and put my hands together, palms facing the rabbits. I built up resistance, and then let it all go in one giant, destructive fireball. The fireball set most of them on fire, and knocked back the ones that weren't.

I scanned the snow for Sanji. I couldn't find him until...

_NO!_

I spotted him lying face-down in the snow, with a slowly growing red spot on the back of his head. Running over to him, I lifted his head propped him up. He stirred slightly, and started to mumble. I put my head down to listen.

"D... don't tell people about this..."

I smiled sadly. "Geez. You're nearly dead, and you want me to not tell people?"

He nodded weakly.

"Alright, then. No promises if anyone asks me specifically though."

I draped my jacket around him to keep him warm and lifted him onto my back like Luffy did with Nami, then started to jog gently in the direction that Luffy went.

XxX

On the way there, the small rabbit that had annoyed us at first was crouched over its leg. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the leg was trapped in a hole in some ice. It growled at me as I approached with Sanji, but I couldn't leave it stuck there. I have a secret weakness for certain types of cute animals, and this was definitely one of them. I stumbled through the snow, my back stinging from the cold even though Sanji was shielding me from the worst of it. It tried to wriggle away from me, but I gently melted the ice around its foot, allowing it to run away and hide behind a tree, but it watched me as I continued on my path.

XxX

I finally met up with Luffy at the bottom of the mountain. As I walked up to him, he turned, and, seeing Sanji, proceeded to ask in a worried tone about the events that had happened after he had left. I explained as best I could without it sounding lame. At the end of my story, Luffy said nothing, but started climbing up the side of the cliff.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Hey Luffy, if I fall, catch Sanji first, 'kay?"

He nodded silently. I secured Sanji onto my still bleeding back and got a good handhold on the ice before pulling myself up slowly. I could feel the snowflakes like tiny needles on my bare arms and legs, and the cold of the ice seeping through my gloves. I could only imagine Luffy was feeling the same way, so I tried to send him positive vibes.

About a quarter of the way up the mountain, Sanji suddenly slipped off my shoulder and hung backwards like a doll, pulling my feet off the mountainside. I found myself clinging onto the cliff by just my hands, but they were slowly losing grip too. Just as I was about to drop into the space below me, an arm stretched and pulled me by the collar of my t-shirt back onto the cliff. I regained my footing and looked above me to thank Luffy, but he was already moving up.

Around the halfway point, Luffy's hand slipped off his handhold, leaving a trail of blood on the ice. Without making a sound, he tried again, but the same thing happened. I edged my way along to him and melted a handhold in the ice for him to grab onto. He silently acknowledged my gesture and continued climbing.

We were nearly at the top when I suddenly felt the impact of the change in oxygen levels. My eyes started to droop, and I lost sense of the time that had passed. The only things that kept me awake and sane were Luffy's constant climbing and Sanji's head on my shoulder. I reminded myself that if I didn't get to the top soon, then Sanji would most likely die.

I closed my eyes for a moment just to concentrate on my surroundings, but a moment was all it took for my muscles to relax and my hand immediately lost its grip. I would have fallen to the ground, if not for Luffy grabbing my arm and yanking me back up.

Quietly, I whispered, "I'm not sure what to say when you just saved both our lives, but the closest I can get is thank you."

"It's fine." he replied almost silently.

As we neared the edge of the top of the mountain, my remaining blood rushed to my head. Not making the same mistake, I kept climbing at a steady pace, if not faster. My head pounded to my heartbeat and my vision blurred, but I moved my hands and feet in the same pattern that I had been following the whole way up.

_Hand. Foot. Hand. Foot._

Out of my limited eyesight, I saw Luffy disappear over the edge. I desperately pulled myself up the remaining five feet and collapsed in the snow at the top. Mustering my remaining strength, I untied Sanji from my back, but didn't move him because I knew that if he got too cold, he would die for sure. Also, my back wound would hurt like freaking hell if the snow hit it.

I lay in the snow without moving, but I knew that Luffy was feeling the same way. Exhausted. Satisfied. Helpless. All we could do was wait for the witch to come save us.

XxX

I woke up in a soft white bed. The walls of the room were made of stone, and it was surprisingly cold. Across the room, there were some bookshelves and a table with medicinal supplies. In front of the desk, there was a chair, and in it was... what, exactly?

It was a furry creature with a red hat and darker red shorts. He (I assumed it was a he) was grinding some kind of leaf berry mixture. He jumped off the chair and padded across the floor to my bed, jumping up on a stool that was positioned next to my head.

I still felt slightly delirious, and the first thought that came to my mind was that he was adorably cute, so I stretched out one of my arms to grab him. I managed to capture one of his arms so that he couldn't get away, and hugged him tightly.

_Aww... he's so soft!_

Apparently, he did not take kindly to being squished. He wriggled out of my hug and ran across the room to hide part of his face behind the door frame.

"No... Come back..." I slurred, not fully awake yet.

He shivered, then yelled, "Shut up, human! You nearly died! How do you feel?"

Not quite sure whether that last comment had been a challenge or a legitimate question, I replied with a tired grin, "I feel just perfect! How about you? I guess you always feel good, 'cause you're so soft and furry and all... By the way, are you the one that took care of me and my nakama?"

He poked his small blue nose out from behind the door frame and whispered, "Yes, but I'm a blue nosed reindeer that can talk. Don't you hate me?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"No! You're adorable and fluffy and cute and smart and talented and kind and amazing for helping us out. And personally, I think you're just about the cutest little thing I've ever seen."

An ecstatic expression appeared on his face and he did an adorable little happy dance.

"Shut up, human! Even if you say that, it doesn't make me happy at all!"

I smiled. "Okay, well if you're not happy, then you should do something that cheers you up! I have a perfect idea. Can you grab my bag for me?"

He ran off to get it as I puzzled about his attitude towards humans. What could have happened to him? And why him? He seemed too sweet and innocent to have a terrible past.

_Whatever it is, I'm sure that I can help, even slightly._

He returned a few minutes later with my bag in his hands (Paws? Hooves?). I set it down on my knees and opened it, searching for a particular item.

"Aha!" I exclaimed, pulling out the bag of puffy, sugary, goodness and offered him one. "Eat one of these if you're not happy!"

He poked at it tentatively, testing for explosions or something. When all seemed fine, he grabbed it and popped it into his mouth. Immediately, his eyes lit up and he reached for another one. He jumped up onto the side of my bed, and we ate in a comfortable silence, until I decided to ask a few questions.

"Hey, so, I don't actually know your name. What is it?"

"Thony Thony Cthoppah." he replied with a mouthful of marshmallow.

Fortunately, I was experienced with people who talk with their mouths full so I could translate.

"Tony Tony Chopper?"

"Mm."

My face scrunched up in a smile.

"Aww! That's such a wonderful name! So, Chopper, are you the witch doctor that the people in the village talk about?"

He looked down glumly.

"No, that's Dr. Kureha. I'm just an assistant."

I nudged him.

"Well you must be pretty good to take care of patients like me. See, I'm all fixed!"

A shadow fell across the bed where we were sitting. I looked up and saw an old lady, but she must not have been any older than sixty. She was in good shape, with a crop top and a pierced bellybutton. In her hand was a bottle of sake, and she wore small, dark, sunglasses.

"What have you been eating, Chopper? You're not supposed to eat thing while on duty, and especially not if the patients give it to you."

I smiled cheerfully.

"Don't worry, uh, Dr. Kureha. They're just marshmallows. Not poisonous."

Ignoring me, she flipped me over onto my stomach, and pulled up the back of my shirt. It was then that I noticed the bandages around me, holding my wound together. She inspected them, and then made a slight sound of approval. As she let me go, I flushed slightly and pulled my shirt down. I had never been very good with 'inspections'.

The witch looked at me and said, "You can call me Doctorine. And by the way, your friends are alive and kicking."

I sighed with relief. They had all made it.

* * *

><p>AN

Ehh... that was an abrupt ending. I'll try to make the next one longer. Oh, a little insight into Anni's character. She loves sugar and cute animals, even though she's tough and slightly violent. Just if you hadn't noticed. ;) Ugh, I'm so tired. But spring break is coming up! Yay! There's gonna be another 'Anni loses control' moment, because I haven't included one for a while.

Special thanks to my constant reviewer, pizzafan123. Thank you!

See ya!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N

Yeah! Ten chapters! If any of you were wondering when I'm gonna stop, it'll be at the end of the One Piece plot. Wait, what did you say? You want to know what this 'end of the plot' is that I speak of? Well, I don't really know what it means either, only that it has nothing to do with One Piece. So, yeah. It's probably gonna go on for a long time. Long, long time. ;)

Btw, we updated our bio. It's much funnier now.

EDIT: Holy crap guys! We passed 2000 views! You're amazing!

* * *

><p>Anni's POV<p>

Dr. Kureha decided that I was fine to walk around, even though my wound hadn't completely healed yet. Chopper showed me where my nakama were and said that I was fine to visit them any time. Nami was in a room similar to mine, but in reverse. Sanji and Luffy had been put in the same room, and since Nami was still recovering, I decided to visit them first.

I walked in with Chopper. The room was dark, and they were both sleeping peacefully. Dr. Kureha had told me to try not to wake them up, but I could if I wanted to. First, I decided to wake up Sanji, and apologize for not looking out for him in the fight against the Lapahn.

I sat down on his bed and poked his bandaged stomach, but he just rolled over, muttering something about exotic food. I shook his side until he woke up. His eyes opened and a glowing smile crossed over his face.

"Ah, what a wonderful thing to be woken up by such an angel. What brings you here to me?" he murmured, trying to sit up.

I pushed him back down onto his pillow, muttering, "I'll show _you_ angel."

Sighing, I said, "Please, for once, be serious."

He nodded.

"I'm really sorry."

His eyes widened. "What for?"

"I... think I hurt you with that fireball that I shot at the Lapahn." I trailed off.

He furrowed his one visible eyebrow.

"No, I don't believe you did. One of the rabbits jumped and hit my head. I haven't found any burn marks either."

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Actually, I might have dodged it by collapsing." he responded thoughtfully.

I smiled. "That's a relief. I thought that I had nearly killed you!"

I bent down and hugged him quickly, then stood up and noticed the all-encompassing grin on his face.

Smacking his arm lightly, I muttered, "Pervert."

I turned to leave and let him get some sleep, when he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Wait, what happened to your back? There's blood on it!" he asked, panicking.

Twisting around I responded, "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that. One of the Lapahn scratched me. It's fine though, I don't think that it'll scar."

He groaned and relaxed back on the bed.

"Whatever spirit of luck watches over you isn't kind."

I smiled gently, prying his hand from my arm.

"Whatever spirit of luck watches over me caused me to meet you guys, so it can't be all bad."

I exited the room, hearing two sets of gentle snores follow me out.

XxX

The next time that I went in was for Luffy. I did the same thing that I did with Sanji, poking his stomach until he woke up.

"Oi."

"Oi."

"Oi, Luffy, wake up!"

He mumbled something about meat and opened his eyes slowly.

"Wha... Anni, what are we doing here?"

Gesturing to the room, I answered, "We got to the top of the mountain and the witch found us, and there's this cute little reindeer with a blue nose, and he loves marshmallows, and everyone's fine, and it turns out that I didn't almost kill Sanji, and Nami's fine but recovering, and..." I ran out of air, gasping.

"Hmmm..." Luffy seemed to be contemplating the situation, but then said, "So is there any meat?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, but I have marshmallows. Want one?"

I pulled the remaining packet out of my bag and offered him one. He took one and munched on it while I told him what the witch had told me about Nami's condition.

"... and that's why we have to stay for another few days before Nami's all better." I finished.

His eyes shifted from me to something behind me. Turning, I spotted Chopper replacing some of the sheets. I turned back to Luffy, but he was gone. Hearing a shrill scream from Chopper confirmed my suspicions.

"No, Luffy! This is Chopper, not food!" I chased after them as they ran in circles around the castle.

XxX

Eventually, many screams, punches, and marshmallows later, I managed to convince Luffy that Chopper was not for eating and Chopper that Luffy wouldn't eat him. I stuffed their mouths with marshmallows and made them promise not to cause any more trouble. I mean, they had probably given poor Nami a heart attack with all the shouting and crashing.

Chopper and I led Luffy back to his room, but on the way, we passed by Nami's room. Peeking in, we found Dr. Kureha, Nami, and Sanji talking together. I opened the door and walked in, and immediately, Nami's face lit up at the sight of us.

"Anni! Luffy!"

"Hey Nami," I replied.

"Nami! You're alright!" Luffy exclaimed.

I grumbled, "What, so you didn't believe me?"

Dr. Kureha interrupted, clearing her throat to get our attention.

"I'm glad that you feel good enough to run around, but I need you to go back to your rooms and rest," she ordered strictly, "And Chopper, you need to go make more of the medicine that I'm using for this girl's back wound." she indicated at me.

As Chopper padded off, Nami looked at me worriedly.

"What happened to your back?" she asked.

I groaned in exasperation. "It got scratched in the fight that we had with those rabbits. No biggie."

Dr. Kureha took a step forwards.

"It was more than just a scratch, girly. I thought that you were going to die of blood loss when I found you four laying in all that blood. You had carried your nakama up the side of this mountain, all the while bleeding heavily."

Sanji spoke up. "Wait, you carried one of us up the mountain? With that wound?"

I grinned. "Yup! I mean, you couldn't have carried yourself, could you?"

He seemed speechless, so I changed the conversation topic to something that I had been wondering about.

"So, Dr. Kureha," I started.

"You want to know my secret to living until my still-young one hundred thirties?"

I blinked. "No, I was wondering about Chopper. He's a reindeer, but he can talk, and he seems to be on bad terms with humans. Why?"

She sighed, taking a gulp of her sake.

"Chopper ate one of the Devil's Fruits; the Hito Hito Fruit. It allows him to take on the abilities of a human and change his shape. He's also a doctor, and a damn good one at that. I've taught him every scrap of my knowledge that I can."

I nodded. "So that's why he can talk, but what about his problem with humans? He seemed pretty mad at me at first, even though I don't think I did anything."

She looked away, chugging her sake. "He'll tell you about it when he's ready. His childhood was pretty rough and he didn't have any friends. For now though, you might be best to keep complimenting and talking to him. He doesn't get that much around here, and it would be good for him to make a friend or two."

Luffy smiled widely. "Well, if he's a doctor, he can come be one of our nakama! Yosh! It's decided! Chopper will come and sail the Grand Line as our doctor and nakama!"

"You can't just decide things like that without us!" Nami and Sanji yelled in unison.

The doctor put down her bottle. "If you want him, go ahead and take him. You'll need his trust, though, and he doesn't trust easily after what has happened to him."

Sanji sat down on a chair next to Nami's bed and said thoughtfully, "But, you know, he does seem like a wonderful doctor."

"And he seems like the type we can trust," Nami continued.

"And he's cute!" I added for good measure.

Sanji jumped to his feet and Luffy started towards the door. I followed suit and walked towards the door.

"What are you guys doing?" Nami asked confusedly.

I grinned over my shoulder. "We're gonna go find Chopper and ask him to come with us!"

She pushed her blankets back, but Dr. Kureha sat down on her legs, preventing her from following us. She looked momentarily upset, but it quickly turned to fear as the doctor whispered something in her ear.

"Nami will be staying here with me," the satisfied doctor announced, with a glance at Nami that said, _just try going with them._

I smiled inwardly at her terror; Nami was usually so calm and manipulative. Looking around for my captain and cook, they had already left, so I sprinted after them to prevent them from getting lost or destroying half the castle.

XxX

A couple circuits around the halls later, I leaned over the balcony and spotted the two idiots. I leaped down to land in one of the many snowdrifts on the floor. Sanji was poking Luffy's arm, saying something about how cold it was.

Luffy looked down at his bare arms and legs and started shivering.

"It's cold in here!" he exclaimed.

Rolling my eyes, I wondered, "How do you not notice these things?"

Looking up at the giant open wooden doors, Sanji suggested, "Well, if we close these doors, it might be warmer in here. I'm sure Nami-san will thank me -ahem- us for it."

I snickered quietly at Sanji's obsession, then remembered that we were actually looking for Chopper.

"Hey, guys..." I started as they began to push on the doors. Before they could get far, however, Chopper spoke from behind us.

"Stop."

"C'mon, it's cold in here," Sanji said without pausing.

Chopper suddenly transformed into a huge human-shaped form. He was easily six feet tall and could pass for a human. He glared murderously at us and yelled, "I said stop!"

He charged past me to Luffy and Sanji, knocking them off their feet. He then returned the doors to their original positions and shrunk back down. Looking up, I spotted something at the top of the doors.

"Hey, look. There's a snowbird nest on the top of that door," I pointed out.

Luffy followed the direction of my stare to the nest in question where the small birds were chirping softly.

"Oh, I see. And if we had closed the doors, they would've fallen," he said quietly.

Sanji spun around to thank Chopper, but he was already walking away, head down.

"Anni-chan, you seem to be the only one of us he trusts. Could you please thank him for us?" Sanji whispered to me.

I nodded, running over to Chopper. I knelt down to his current eye level as if I were speaking to a child.

"Chopper, we're very sorry that we tried to close the doors. We didn't see the nest, and we're very thankful that you came to stop us," I said softly.

He sniffled. "But aren't you scared of me? I'm a... a monster!"

I stroked the top of his head. "So am I. And Luffy, and Sanji too."

He looked up with teary eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, have you ever heard of the Mugiwara Pirates? Or the Demon's Daughter, Anni?" I grinned.

Chopper nodded. "I heard Doctorine talking about them in town. I heard that the Demon's Daughter isn't a pirate, marine, or bounty hunter. She's apparently just beating up criminals for fun, but they think she could have some ulterior motive. She apparently has amazing fire powers and hasn't been noticed until a week ago or so. She's scary."

I slapped my forehead with my palm at the over-exaggerated rumors. "Well, I wouldn't say that I beat people up for fun, and I am a pirate, but I do like to think of myself as intimidating, if not scary."

Poor Chopper's jaw dropped at this revelation. He shrieked and ran to hide behind one of the stair railings.

"Y-You're... the Demon's Daughter?" he squeaked.

I grinned and stood up, placing my hands on my hips. "Yup! But you don't think I'm scary, do you, Chopper?"

He came out slowly. "No, not so far."

"Then you're fine! I like you a lot, and it would be more than a shame if you were scared of me," I grinned.

He padded towards me slowly, as if I had suddenly changed in the last few seconds. When he got close enough, I grabbed him and lifted him up into a hug.

_He's so soft!_

Suddenly, he stiffened, looking over my shoulder. He squirmed out of my arms and transformed into a reindeer-like shape. Then he started running up the stairs, back to Dr. Kureha and Nami.

"Hey, Chopper, what's up?" I yelled, slightly confused.

He looked over his shoulder as he ran.

"I have to tell Doctorine! He's back!" he replied with a scared note in his voice.

"Who?" I asked, running after him with Luffy and Sanji hot on my heels.

"Wapol!"

XxX

We burst into the room, scaring the living shit out of Nami. She jumped a good two inches out of her bed and uttered a bird-like shriek at the sight of us. Chopper skidded to a stop in front of Dr. Kureha's chair.

"What is it, Chopper?" Dr. Kureha asked as he 'poofed' back into his original form.

"It's Wapol. He's back!" Chopper gasped.

Dr. Kureha shot up from her chair and dashed to the window, looking out at the hippo-like thing on the snow covered front yard.

"Damn. I guess I knew that old shit would come back sooner or later." she said, dashing out the door.

Sanji, Chopper, Luffy, and I ran after her, down the stairs and out the front door. When we got there, the three of us pirates gasped. It was the ship-eating, stubby, metal-jawed, loudmouth that caused Usopp a heart attack by taking a bite out of the Merry. Luffy immediately dashed forwards, shouting, "Gomu Gomu no... Pistol!"

His rubber fist slammed into Wapol's face, knocking him backwards into his hippo-creature. The jester thing and the knight thing both screamed, running over to check on him. I figured I had a few moments before he got back up, so I turned to Dr. Kureha and asked, "Alright. What the hell is going on here?"

She turned to me. "You know him?"

"Yeah, the metal faced one tried to eat our ship," Luffy said, keeping his eyes on Wapol.

"Well, you are most definitely an interesting pirate crew. Wapol was once the king of this island. In an attempt to gain total control over the people, he exiled or killed all of the doctors except for the best and most talented twenty, calling them the 'Issha Twenty'. I was not part of that twenty, but I managed to escape detection. Choppers former mentor, Dr. Hiluluk, was the other doctor who escaped. The fool. He tried to keep treating people. He found Chopper, sick and injured, and took him in for about a year. One day, there was an announcement that said that the twenty doctors were sick. Dr. Hiluluk went to treat them, but it was a trap and he blew himself up. Do you see that flag?" she pointed to a skull and crossbones with sakura petals flying from the highest tower, "That's the flag that Dr. Hiluluk flew against all illness. He was a brave man, and Chopper respected him a lot."

It was a sad story, and I felt a wave of pity for Chopper, but I focused on the fight at hand. Wapol had gotten up and was spouting some nonsense about the greatness of the Baku Baku Fruit. He morphed into some kind of house, and ate his two companions. They then came out a set of doors in the front, dressed in one costume. The jester was being piggybacked by the afro-knight, and frankly, they looked like idiots.

Luffy, however, thought this was absolutely amazing. He stared at them with stars in his eyes, even as Wapol continued to ramble on about his own greatness.

"Now you're going to regret ever moving into my castle!" he yelled to no one in particular.

"I have no interest in this pile of ruble, but this boy here wanted to make a memorial for Hiluluk," said Dr. Kureha, indicating to Chopper.

"What?! That's nonsense!" Wapol screamed.

Chopper interrupted. "No, see, that's his flag up there!"

"Well then, I'll just have to shoot it down!" Wapol said, raising an arm.

Aiming one of his canon arms at it, Wapol shot a blast at the waving flag. The smoke concealed the results, but as it cleared, I saw Luffy standing on the tower, flag in hand. Neither one had been harmed. He glared at Wapol.

"You don't deserve to attack this flag. If you're not willing to put your own life on the line, you cannot stand up to the skull and crossbones. This is the mark of a pirate, and it's indestructible!" he shouted.

As Luffy lept down to attack Wapol, the afro-knight/jester combination shot a ball of hair at Sanji and Dr. Kureha as they were distracted. Sanji blocked it with his leg, but as he tried to shake it off, he found that it was stuck.

"What the hell is this? It's stuck to my leg!" he yelled, shaking it frantically.

The afro-knight grinned, saying, "It's stuck with static electricity. By the way, you should know something about afros... they burn."

The afro-knight shot three more hairballs at Sanji, sticking to his arms and legs. Then, the jester thing on the top took out a bow with a flaming arrow and shot it at Sanji. Fortunately, Luffy chose that moment to jump back to Sanji and block the arrow. He deflected it into the mouth of the house machine. Wapol yelled in surprise, waving his canon arms at his mouth. This only resulted in them both going off, knocking him down into the snow. He stood up, growling.

"You've done it this time, Mugiwara. I'll destroy you!" he shouted with smoke floating out of his mouth.

"Eh? That was your own fault!" Luffy stated, unaware of Wapol's frustration.

Wapol yelled at the sky in reply.

Sanji stepped in front of Luffy, ready to take on Wapol, but Dr. Kureha tripped him and stood on his back.

"Not this time, boy. You'll end up triggering that head wound and you'll have to stay here even longer. Is that what you want?" she asked, rhetorically.

Sanji mumbled something through the snow that sounded suspiciously like, 'shit doctor'. Dr. Kureha ground her heel into his back, and he stopped complaining.

I looked over at Chopper, who was facing off against the afrojester. He held out a small yellow ball, then crunched it between his teeth.

"Rumble Ball!" he shouted.

The afrojester shot a flaming hairball at him, but he morphed into a giant fluffball and bounced out of the way. I decided to help him out a little.

"Hey, Chopper," I said, running up to him, "You can't just grab the spotlight like this. Let's figure out some combo moves together!"

He smiled at me and said, "Yeah! I can take him down myself, but I would like to see if you can fight as well as Doctorine says you can!"

He morphed into a human-like shape, but very tall, with strong arms. He picked me up and jumped high into the air, throwing me like an arrow at the two enemies, shouting, "Jumping Point!"

My fist slammed into the jester, knocking them both off balance. Chopper landed in front of me with another transformation, this time with huge antlers. He pierced the side of the afro knight, throwing them into the side of the castle.

"This is going to be my strongest attack," he whispered, transforming into a human-like shape with huge arms, "So I need you to light both your fists on fire and attack at the same time as me."

I nodded almost imperceptibly, doing as he said. The jester and afro knight stumbled to their feet, wobbling towards us. We dashed forwards together, attacking at the same time, as Chopper yelled, "Flaming Kokutei Roseo!"

Our combined strengths left an imprint of a clover and a fist in the costume that the two were wearing, sending them flying over the edge of the cliff screaming.

Chopper sighed. "Two minutes."

* * *

><p>AN

I know, I know, I said I wouldn't leave off on an abrupt ending, but hey, at least this chapter was long, right? Also, I know some of you won't like me for this, but what about a pairing between Anni and someone else? A certain favorite character of mine is coming up, and I want to know what you guys think about it. This will NOT change the genres AT ALL, but it'll be a little like the Valentine's Day chapter, as in very minimal romance *ahem, due to author's lack of experience*.

So, to recap, what you need to let me know (please):

1) Pairing? (yes/no)

2) Who do you think it should be with? (can be anyone)

3) If you think there should be a little tiny bit of romance. (independent from other answers)

4) And why the hell am I mixing up my 'c' and 's' keys?! (completely optional)

See ya!


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